OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE: Perspective
What do you see in the title above? Do you view the positive, the negative, or neutral? Whether a situation or experience, do you see opportunity, disaster or challenge? One of the key elements of resiliency (the ability to bounce back) is about perspective: how we look at something.
Perspective makes a difference in how we cope with minor setbacks or major difficulties or tragedies (like health issues or a pandemic). We cannot always control stressful events happening around us, but we can control how we choose to interpret them and respond to them.
In scripture, the apostle James exhorts us to consider our troubles as “an opportunity for great joy” (James 1:2, NLT). Dr. Caroline Leaf notes in her devotional “Switch on Your Brain Everyday” that our perceptions are based on how we choose to see things (p. 110). We can choose to see troubles as a joyful opportunity to grow and learn or we can choose to see them as a defeating tragedy. As a 12-step recovery program puts it, “pain is inevitable, misery is optional”, it’s how you perceive the inevitable challenges of life and how you choose to move through a difficult stressor.
Diamond in the hand
It’s not about being Pollyanna or ignoring the reality of a tough situation. We need to see the truth of it in order to deal with it. Viewing a troublesome situation can be like turning a diamond over and over in the hands. With every turn, a new sun dance of light can be seen, a new prism of color or beauty comes as it is held to the light and examined. We can turn a troublesome situation over like a diamond and search for the prisms of opportunity and beauty of possibilities. We may miss something even as we turn it, so we ask objective others for help in seeing the facets we may be glossing over.
Interestingly, there are physiological and brain benefits to trying to see the opportunities or possibilities. According to Dr. Leaf, if our own perception is “glass ½ full”, the blood veseels around the heart dilate and the increased blood flow brings increased oxygen to the brain, which increases clarity of thought. This means a greater ability to problem solve and cope with the difficult situation (p.116). It’s amazing how our perceptions can move us from surviving to thriving!
Dr. Leaf also indicates that when we perceive a stress as positive (as suggested by James), a genetic switch in our genome is activated which increases our resilience in stressful situations overall. (p.118)
The Long Game
The biblical story of Joseph gives us a great example of resilience by looking at our situations with a more positive long-range, broader view (Genesis 37; 39-45). Rather than being immobilized in his troublesome circumstances with anger, self-pity and fear, he considered an expansive God-size perspective. He didn’t know what God was doing in his life, but he chose to consider that everything would eventually be worked out for good in some way.
Changing our perspective to see opportunities may take time. I’m learning that it’s important that I note and celebrate any positive movement in this direction to help me retrain my brain to search for the prisms of opportunity on a regular basis.
Let’s Talk: What current life circumstance can you examine like a diamond and consider the beauty of possibilities?
“Diamond Age” by jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0