Building Perspectives

A few days back, I was conversing with one of my childhood friends and we were discussing about changes in people and the way life has changed for each one of us. We’ve known each other for a long time (14 years to be precise) and hence I asked her, ‘Having known me for a long time now, how do you see me today and what do you have to say about my character?’ She played safe, in my opinion and what she actually said was ‘career-conscious, a music addict and pretty straight-forward’ and summed it up ‘you trust your friends a lot’. That was quite unexpected because I was expecting a more informal and an in-depth analysis. When I questioned her formality for being safe (if I could say, circumspect) in her comments, she said ‘I generally don’t see the negative side of people and I take the positives alone' That was fair enough and I certainly cannot question her approach towards people. 

To me, building perspectives is very important and I observe people very keenly and there's a section of my friends who used to appreciate my mimicry while in school. I try to study the other man’s mind in the midst of a conversation and in general, their body language. There is a saying ‘People share one thing in common : They’re all different’. Being a staunch believer in this, I admire God for His wonderful incarnations. Each one is different in one way or the other and it's pleasurable to study people and analyze their different approaches towards life. I’ve always tried to imbibe in me, qualities that I’ve found impressive in others. I get inspired but I’m not influenced. There’s quite a difference between the former and the latter. Coming back, after hanging up the phone that night, I pondered over this idea of ‘Building Perspectives’. My flair for observations and thereby building perspectives has been on for quite some time and the discussion with others doesn’t stop with my friends alone but extends still further. A protracted conversation with my uncle about our family members made up for a wonderful and an interesting discussion, a few days back. We opened up on our opinions about each one in the family and I was happy for the fact that, most of my observations were almost spot-on and my uncle held similar views. Even the most trivial of actions/attitudes failed to go unnoticed in our eyes and we (myself and my uncle) had studied almost everything. And as we were discussing about people, he cautioned me not to bring these perspectives in the way of relationships, in the sense, he didn’t want me to get obtrusive. I promised him that I had always built perspectives only to smooth relationships and definitely not to harm. 

A watchful build helps to study people at length and also lets one to analyze people’s responses/reactions to different situations. I’ve always tried my best in getting the better out of people which I feel, is done by analyzing both their strengths and weaknesses. It helps in many ways and when you study both, you shall keep away circumstances which make that person uncomfortable and make the air pleasant by bringing in conversations to make him/her more comfortable. And as my uncle rightly pointed out, unsubstantiated opinions might turn into prejudice and make one over-react to situations when not called for. This, in turn, bitters the relationship.

Last evening, I was watching a program on CNN IBN wherein Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was responding to people’s queries on methods to tackle mental stress. He was sharing the screen with Anubha Bhonsle and giving answers that looked 'easier-said-than-done'. Tackling mental stress is one of the toughest things in life for a common man and for every question thrown; he answered with a wide smile on his face and responded in a manner that looked just an ordinary thing. In actual practice, it’s not that easy as he mentions and similarly, building the right perspective is quite tough and one gets better only with experience. 

Good Judgement comes with Experience &

Experience comes with Poor Judgement

Though we might not build just the right one, life’s all about ‘Building Perspectives’.

P.S: I would like to receive your votes in the poll (look right top corner)