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It’s great to be back working with wonderful people across the UK and internationally, and to be having conversations with new clients about their upcoming masterclasses and coaching programmes. I genuinely continue to love what I do.
I came across this article in Word for Today, and it really made me think.
Perspective is about how we see things.
Life doesn’t always change, but when our perspective changes, our experience often does.
The same situation can feel stressful, unfair, or overwhelming, or it can later feel meaningful, helpful, or even life-changing. Often, it isn’t the event itself that causes the pain, but the meaning we attach to it.
One true story from Word for Today shows this better than almost anything else.
When Anger Became Gratitude
Motivational speaker Denis Waitley describes an experience that marked his life forever. He was trying to catch a flight for a speaking commitment and was running through the airport terminal.
He reached the gate just as the agent closed the door. Denis explained his dilemma, but the agent didn’t reopen the door. That’s when his annoyance turned into anger.
He stomped out of the boarding area and returned to the ticket counter to lodge a complaint and reschedule his flight. His anger increased as he waited for over twenty minutes in a line that hardly moved.
Right before his turn at the ticket counter, an announcement over the intercom changed his life, because he realised that by missing that flight, his life had been saved.
The flight he missed, Flight 191 from Chicago to Los Angeles, had crashed on take-off with no survivors.
Denis never lodged his complaint. He also never returned his invalidated ticket for Flight 191. He brought it home and tacked it on a notice board in his office.
In the aftermath of that experience, anytime he felt irritated or upset, all he had to do was look at that ticket from Flight 191. It was an unforgettable reminder that life is a gift that should not be undervalued.
Everything changed
Just minutes earlier, Denis felt angry and wronged.
Moments later, that same situation became something he was deeply grateful for.
Nothing about the situation changed; the closed gate, the missed flight, and the long wait were all the same.
What changed was his perspective.
What felt like bad luck turned out to be a life-saving gift.
Perspective Doesn’t Remove Difficulty – It Changes How We Carry It
Changing perspective doesn’t mean ignoring pain or pretending things are fine. Difficult situations still hurt. Stress, disappointment, and frustration are part of being human.
Perspective simply asks us to pause and consider:
“Could there be more to this than what I can see right now?”
Another powerful true story helps explain this.
Choosing Perspective in the Hardest Conditions
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who survived Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. He lost his parents, his brother, and his wife. His life was filled with hunger, fear, and suffering.
Yet Frankl noticed something important.
Some prisoners survived not because they were physically stronger, but because they found meaning. Some imagined seeing loved ones again. Others held onto the idea that their suffering might one day help others.
Frankl later wrote:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
He couldn’t change his situation, but he could choose how he looked at it.
That choice helped him survive and later help millions through his work.
3 Key Learnings
- The same event can create very different experiences. What matters most is the meaning we give to it.
- You may not control events, but you often control your response. Perspective gives you emotional choice.
- Time often reveals the value in difficulty. What feels negative today may make sense later.
Why Perspective Matters in Everyday Life
Both stories show the same truth:
- Events happen
- We interpret them
- That interpretation shapes how we feel
- How we feel affects how we act
Perspective doesn’t change the past, but it can change how we move forward.
Thoughts for the Week
- What situation in my life could benefit from a wider perspective?
- If this challenge was helping me grow, how might it be doing that?
- What small shift in thinking could reduce my stress this week?
Sometimes a closed door is protection.
Sometimes a delay is a direction.
Sometimes a struggle is shaping you for what comes next.
A change of perspective won’t remove the challenge, but it can completely change how you experience it.
Well, that’s it for this week. Have a wonderful week ahead, and keep believing.
Warm regards
John
https://jdmindcoach.com/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/
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