The simple answer to this questions is that our perspective is what shapes the way we see things in the world–the way we interpret and understand the stimulus in front of us. This is simple enough for us to understand: my perspective influences the way that I interpret the information in front of me. If my perspective is negatively biased, my understanding of the situation will be negatively biased. Makes sense, right? However, there is a more complex answer to this that we need to talk about because in the complexities of your perspective is where we learn about how we can change our perspective.
Your ‘perspective’ is a more general view of your ‘mindset’. And your mindset is made up of both subconscious and conscious components. The subconscious components are your belief systems. Most people don’t know that they have a series of beliefs, formed in early childhood, that dictate how they react to situations. These belief systems are formed in an attempt to help us make snap decisions about whether or not we will succeed or fail in a given situation; they help us behave in a manner that aligns with the predicted outcome.
For example, if we have a deep seated fear of dogs, when one walks in front of us on the sidewalk, our belief system triggers a ‘failure’ response that will make us either freeze or run away.
The next component of your mindset are your subconscious and conscious thoughts. Subconscious thoughts we don’t necessarily hear in our heads, but they are our automatic response to the triggered belief system. Sticking with the dog example, the automatic thought might be, ’Dogs are dangerous’. The next step in this sequence, the conscious thought (which results from our response to the belief system and automatic thought) which in this situation might be ”RUN” or “STOP”.
So to sum up, our mindset is the total of our belief systems, automatic thoughts, and conscious thoughts. And our mindset creates a lens through which we see the world, commonly referred to as our perspective. If we want to change our perspective, we have to address the components of our mindset that naturally lie at the subconscious level; our belief systems and our automatic thoughts.
– Coach Lauren
