Change your lens!!

There are many moments in your life, when you change the lens thru which you are looking at, the situation looks different. The people in the situation were and are the same, but the way you are looking at them becomes different. Your action towards them changes as well.. All you did was to – Change your lens!!

You have gained a lot of weight and want to reduce it.. You start body shaming yourself (forget others doing it for you) and you start disliking your body and yourself.. You hit a low patch.. To feel better what do you do? You put yourself thru vigorous workouts, an intense diet plan,sometimes a surgery and you lose weight!! There is weight loss but with a lot of dislike raging in you.. Instead, look at yourself with care, look at yourself with love for the person that you are, look at your body as a temple.. a temple in which you reside in.. if you want to keep the body healthy and fit, you need to take care of it and how do you do that – thru physical exercises, a healthy and nutritious diet plan and exuding less toxins towards your self and others.. voila, you start becomig fitter and slimmer than you were before (both in the body and in the mind).. All you did is to – Change your lens!!

You had a big run in with your spouse / boss (some may say that both are one and the same :-)) and you are furious.. Just then a friend / relative of yours messages you.. and that message triggers more anger in you.. all hell breaks loose at that friend / relative, who has no clue of your context.. and then begins a slew of hurtful words.. instead can you pause before getting into any exchange of words? And in that pause, you – Change your lens!!

You want your child to be the way you were as a child.. study hard, do homework on time, be obedient at school, keep things in their place, have friends that parents approved of, no going out to play before exams, perfect in whatever you did (according to you :-)) etc etc etc.. Your child is turning out to be different from the way you were – may listen in the class but minimal study at home, may do the homework on most days but not all days, has lots of friends, many times out of the home and playing, exams or no exams an hour’s play is a must etc etc etc.. you have your way of dealing with it, which isn’t working.. The difference between the ‘even now’ present child in you and the child in your child, is widening.. to lessen this gap, all you need to do is to – Change your lens!!

You took up a responsibilty and you could not execute it as well as you thought you should.. there were many a hidden variable that you had no control over… but being the person that you are, with high expectations from yourself and a harsh self-critic, you lose no time in castigating yourself.. instead, pause for a moment and think of all that happened and reflect.. in that time of reflection, what you need to do is to – Change your lens!!

You meet someone for the first time and you are impressed with them.. a little while later, you get to know something about that person and your first impression changes.. if you think your need to give that person a fair chance, you need to give them more time to understand the person that they are.. and to change your impression again, you need to – Change your lens!!

You think you have had a parent (s) who were exerting all their control on you right from your childhood.. The fear you had of them, in your childhood, slowly turned into anger as you grew older. As you grew, they also did. They still exercise control but you start resisting it / rebelling it.. and slowly hate the control they have had over you, start hating them and perhaps yourself too.. They have grown older / passed on and no longer do you give them an opportunity to exert control over you; but the hatred for them remains in you.. To understand that they have a background which made them be what they are, what you need to do is to – Change your lens!!

There are situations and experiences you go thru in life.. some are pleasant and many are unpleasant, or is it vice versa? Whichever way it is, if you need to live life with less emotional turbulence, you need to – Change your lens!!

Pausing, thinking, reflecting, understanding – while doing all this, it is difficult to remember; but remeber you must to – Change your lens!!

What you do with your life and how you choose to live it is in your hands.. and to do it intelligently and wisely, you need to – Change your lens!!