We see the world not as it is but as we are. In life we tend not to choose from the entire range of possible options, we tend to choose solely from the options we can see ourselves doing. All too many options are automatically, even unconsciously, dismissed as beyond our abilities or simply ‘not the type of thing a person would do.’

Our identity, our self-concept becomes a self-imposed constraint. The implicit screen is always ‘What kind of a person am I? 

To break free, ask what would others, unlike me, with different backgrounds, from a variety of cultures, with contrasting skills, do faced with this situation? What actions, even though they might be out of character or inconsistent, would be helpful? Energizing? Fun? Surprising? Possibly effective? 

While one should always keep one’s commitments, consistency is not synonymous with character nor identical with virtue. Sometimes the boat needs to be rocked, on occasion it may be beneficial to re-pot ourselves. In any case, expanding our perception and enlarging our perspective, seeing more choices and options, can only enrich our lives.

Closing Quotes:

“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.” – George Eliot, 1819-1880

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” – Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860

“You will always define events in a manner which will validate your agreement with reality.” – Steve Maraboli, b.1975

“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” – Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, The Medium Is the Massage

“What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.” – C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier

Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832