Change Your Point Of View

I was recently reminded of a PBS show I used to love – Square One TV.  It was sort of like Sesame Street for teens, only minus the puppets and celebrities and it was all about math.  They had sketches, cartoons and music videos ("Less than zero, less than zero – he's a negative, a negative guuuy!", "It can go backwards, it can go forwards and it will always stay the same because it's a paaalindrooome…"), and ending every episode was a mini serial called Mathnet (one plot line starred a very young Yeardley Smith).

Anywho, my memory was jogged when I saw one of the ensemble actors on a commercial.  I'm always so happy when I see an actor from that show.  After all, they were part of a very enjoyable and informative aspect of my youth.  But this particular actor – though I like him – was in my least favorite Square One music video.  It was called Change Your Point of View (God bless YouTube!), and I disliked it not only because it seemed completely un-mathematical, but also sort of generally useless. 

How is changing your point of view solving the problem?  Isn't that a little bit like sour grapes?  If you can't fix something – you just decide it wasn't a problem to begin with?

Obviously, as I matured, I grew to understand that it's not so much about changing your ultimate feelings on a subject so much as it is… well, observing it in a way that may expose the clues you need to master it.

In Stumbling on Happiness, the author notes that our predictions and recollections of any given event tend to be rosier/worse than our actual real-time experience of said event.  Which suggests that not only do our perceptions skew our reality, but that our perceptions may in fact be our reality.  So: Change your perceptions – change your reality. 

Kinda.

This isn't a new concept, but seeing it from the inside out (as per a Harvard psychologist) brings me back around to Square One's annoying video about two kids running around an Egyptian market as they're serenaded about changing their point of view in order to see the problem more three-dimensionally and thus solve their puzzle.

I had been (am?) panicking about my lack of momentum and an upcoming birthday… but I can look at these things however I want, right?  So maybe they are a gift.   A time to feel more confident and rejuvenated; a time to take a step back for a different perspective; a time to get organized so come January I can take off without missing a step… 

Or is that sour grapes?  Eh, doesn't matter.  The book also says that while we anticipate regretting failed efforts, we're actually happier having tried and failed than those who escaped failure by not trying. 

Or, as one an actress said: "I'd rather regret the things I have done than the things that I haven't."  So I guess I'll keep trying (and continue tweaking my POV along the way).

--Susan Atwood

Comments

[JimTodd]

Great topic!

Perception is reality. There's a department that I have to work in sometimes at my job. I can't describe how much I hate it due to the obnoxious, aggressive, miserable people there.

I decided I'd find ONE thing about each of them that I liked. Just ONE measly thing.

And I try to focus on that, and it becomes more manageable.

I still can't stand them, ahahaha.

But I'm going to get that book at Barnes and Noble.