Quotes About Perspective

However, what lingered in my mind was that one person's dissatisfaction. We tend to notice what's wrong rather than what's right.

There is a story of a man on all fours under a street lamp, searching for something. A policeman passing by asked what he was doing. "Looking for my car keys," replied the man, who appeared slightly drunk. "Did you drop them here?" inquired the officer. "No," answered the man, "I dropped them in the alley." Seeing the policeman's baffled expression, the man hastened to explain, "But the light is much better here.

It is my belief that all such analyses of other human beings are tragic expressions of our own values and needs.

it establishes the speaker as someone who sits in judgment.

Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. We often have a strong urge to give advice or reassurance and to explain our own position or feeling. Empathy, however, calls upon us to empty our mind and listen to others with our whole being.

I had a major conflict with what went on in his head, but I've learned that I enjoy human beings more if I don't hear what they think.

This is a humbling lesson in power for those of us who believe that, because we're a parent, teacher, or manager, our job is to change other people and make them behave.

When we combine observation with evaluation, we decrease the likelihood that others will hear our intended message. Instead, they are apt to hear criticism and thus resist whatever we are saying.

We begin to feel this bliss when messages previously experienced as critical or blaming begin to be seen for the gifts they are: opportunities to give to people who are in pain.

In his book How to Make Yourself Miserable, Dan Greenburg demonstrates through humor the insidious power that comparative thinking can exert over us. He suggests that if readers have a sincere desire to make life miserable for themselves, they might learn to compare themselves to other people.

Si quieres confundir cualquier situación puedo decirte cómo hacerlo: Mezcla lo que hice con tu reacción al respecto.

Seu principal mérito é nos ensinar a nos colocarmos no lugar do outro, desenvolvendo a empatia, que é de grande ajuda até em casos mais difíceis de ruptura e má comunicação.

What some of us call lazy some call tired or easy-going, what some of us call stupid some just call a different knowing, so I've come to the conclusion, it will save us all confusion if we don't mix up what we can see with what is our opinion. Because you may, I want to say also; I know that's only my opinion. —Ruth Bebermeyer

We're accompanied by an internal play-by-play announcer who is forever proclaiming the way things supposedly are and should be in our game of life. This announcer believes it's being helpful, but it doesn't realize the commentaries are ruining the game. Not only is it covering over the real action, but it's setting us up for disappointment, since the game itself rarely matches what's supposed to be happening.

When you start a sentence with "no," "but," "however," or any variation thereof, no matter how friendly your tone or how many cute mollifying phrases you throw in to acknowledge the other person's feelings, the message to the other person is You are wrong.

Successful people never drink from a glass that's half empty.

We also cling to the past as a way of contrasting it with the present—usually to highlight something positive about ourselves at the expense of someone else. Do you ever find yourself beginning a long self-serving story with the phrase, "When I was your age . . ."?

The moral: there's never anyone in the other boat. We are always screaming at an empty vessel. An empty boat isn't targeting us. And neither are all the people creating the sour notes in the soundtrack of our day.

I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch, He said to me, "You must not ask for so much." And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, She cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?" —Leonard Cohen, "Bird on a Wire

Try this: For one week treat every idea that comes your way from another person with complete neutrality. Think of yourself as a human Switzerland. Don't take sides. Don't express an opinion. Don't judge the comment. If you find yourself constitutionally incapable of just saying "Thank you," make it an innocuous, "Thanks, I hadn't considered that." Or, "Thanks. You've given me something to think about.

The Great Western Disease is "I'll be happy when…" This is our belief that happiness is a static and finite goal, within our grasp when we get that promotion, or buy

reasonable people can disagree.

we go through life grumbling about what should be at the expense of accepting what is. Within that bubble of delusion, we grant ourselves an autonomy and superiority we have not earned. We imagine how much better the world would be if we had the power to make the decisions. We don't.

If you're born on third base, you shouldn't think you hit a triple.