Different Perspectives

It is tough to look at things from another’s perspective.  So much goes into our point of view which in turn influences our behavior.  We are influenced from various different sources such as biological make up, culture, personal experiences, ect.  See this article that discusses how an individual's behavior can be complicated.  

My dog’s have always helped remind me to try and look at things from other perspectives.  Sure when I am walking them and it’s rainy weather and they are sniffing a patch of grass or a bush for what seems like and an eternity it easy for me to say come on you two let’s head home.  But then I remember that they are probably wondering at times how I can stare at a computer screen for hours at a time(especially when no little critters are running around on it).  In a dog’s world scent is the primary sense for them just like humans are primarily visual.  To a dog they live in a world of smells.  That patch of grass they are sniffing may contain tons of information.  To them I would imagine it would be similar to checking Facebook or Twitter.  And the rain may not bother them as much since they have a coat of fur.  So for them standing out in the rain sniffing a patch of grass with scent markings from other animals is probably similar to us sitting inside watching the evening news or checking what’s trending.  So most times I catch myself and stand in the rain and let them sniff their bush on the condition they allow me to blog of course :)

Human beings are so vastly different from one another and we share the same genes.  Imagine how much of a different perspective you get from an animal that has a different biological make up.  I always liked the story Temple Grandin relates in her book "Animals In Translation" of a lion being transported on a plane that was given a pillow to sleep on.  The lion ate the pillow and died which was a sad outcome.  But Temple's point that the lion isn’t going to know what to do with a pillow and will try to see if it can be eaten but he probably would have liked some grass or hay to comfortably lie down in was insightful.  It wasn’t that the lion was stupid or did not want to be comfortable like a human would want it just had a different perspective than humans on how to go about doing that.  We need to always step out of our own perspectives occasionally so we can realize the different ways to look at the world and come to a better understanding on how all the organisms that share this earth can get along.  So I always welcome the opportunity to interact with humans and non-humans from different cultures and backgrounds and expand my horizons.  

Our differences I also find highlight our commonalities.  Our common desires to live life and follow our paths in the pursuit of what makes us happy.  Animals and plants especially jolt you.  By their vast differences they highlight the universal truths of living beings.  Having a conversation on how we each see the world even without language I feel will help us better handle this mosaic we call life.  Please feel free to share some unique perspectives or ways of doing things or looking at things.  I would love to hear them and discuss :)

Kitty Rejection

When I was a little kid my parents had a cat.  I always wanted to pet the cat.  She always ran away from me.  I would chase after her and my parents would tell me to leave her alone.  My grandparents had a cat as well and whenever I was over their house I would try to pet the cat but there cat didn’t like to be petted and would swat at me.  I would persist and eventually seeing that I was not getting the message the cat would eventually bite me.  When I told my grandparents the cat bit me they would tell me that is his way of saying leave me alone.  I would never listen to my parents or grandparents and would continually be rejected by these cats.

But as I grew older I realized these cats were right and that not everyone likes everyone.  Throughout life I always wanted to be liked by everyone and would be upset if people didn’t like me or if we just didn’t hit it off and get along great.  Even the rejection of the cats stuck with me.  But I began to realize as I got older that I needed to just be comfortable with myself and like myself the rest would take care of itself.  Motivational speaker and author Louise Hay speaks of this concept of loving yourself and that when you love and accept yourself your “relationships either improve, or the negative ones dissolve and new ones begin.”  I think that is true because it makes simple sense as part of the nature of relationships.  When you accept yourself you are more at ease in your relationships and comfortable and others pick up on that and in turn feel more comfortable and at ease.  And as you gain more confidence in yourself and your healthy relationships you can let go of the unhealthy relationships.  We are social beings after all so we need relationships to thrive a recent study just showed that.  We only have a finite time in this life so we need to choose how we spend our time and who we spend it with wisely.

The cats of my early childhood may have simply not liked me because I didn’t know how to approach them or maybe they just didn’t like me because they didn’t like me but either way they had the right to choose who to spend time with just like we all do.  Although it may be painful we all have to choose who to spend our time with on this earth and accept the consequences of those choice after all it is our life.  And believe me I know the pain of rejection or dissolving unhealthy relationships it is not easy but we have to respect others who choose not to spend time with us and we have to respect ourselves to choose who we spend time with.  Some people just don’t mix with others for whatever reason the connection just doesn’t happen for one or both parties.  But with so many different people out there connections will happen it is the natural course of things just make sure you are in a good place and the rest will happen naturally.  Has anyone struggled with rejection or breaking away from destructive relationships out there?  I would very much like to hear and share feelings and experiences with this since I know it can be a difficult thing to navigate.

Unexpected Teachers

Ken S. Keyes, Jr. was an American writer quoted as saying “Everyone and everything around you is your teacher.”  I couldn’t agree more and have tried to live my life by that philosophy.  I have been very fortunate and am thankful to have had many great teachers over the course of my life time.  Both human and non-human.  My first big non human teacher was a silverfish or most likely several silverfish.  For those of you not familiar with that organism here is a link. Enjoy :)

You see when I was a child I would often find one crawling around my bathroom. Whenever I was in the bathroom and saw one I didn’t run out of the bathroom in fright or immediately grab a tissue or a can of bug spray.  Instead I watched them.  I just observed and when I observed them I saw something behind just a reactionary machine.  Something deep down inside of me said there is something else there.  An intelligence of a sort. There was an interplay between that organism and the world that the silverfish existed in. They taught me to observe the non-human inhabitants of this planet in addition to the human ones and how they interacted with the world they found themselves in.  As I observed I noticed insights and wisdom.  I have always been thankful to the silverfish for being the first to teach me to pay attention to all organisms for I was able to learn many lessons that have helped me through life and gain new perspectives.  I am thankful for the opportunity to share them with you and I welcome you to share with me any lessons you have learned from those around you as well so together we can grow on this journey that we call life.