A BETTER VIEW
“We have more possibilities in each moment than we realize.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese monk, activist and writer.
What if it was possible to enhance your view of any situation at any time? It is. All it requires of you is to learn and practice a very simple skill.
If you take a moment to realize it, you have a mindset, a picture or a current view of your relationships, job, financial situation or creative project. In fact, you have a view of everything that is and will be. This current view of the situation is simply how, at this very moment, you define specific goals or expectations. This is totally controlled by your perceptions, and your perceptions are often colored by self-limiting beliefs such as guilt, fear and what you feel you deserve.
Your current view of the situation, or CVS, has a powerful impact on the choices you make because it sets up expectations.
Keep in mind: you create your CVS. Because you create it, you can create something different, something better – whenever you so choose. You can take any CVS and alter it into a better one.
Last month, for example, I was particularly busy presenting my program to business groups. While I am exceedingly grateful to be working, I was also not happy about being away from home for so many days. My CVS, or current view of the situation, was that of wading through loud and anxious crowds at the airport, staying in sterile hotel rooms and arriving back home exhausted.
That was my CVS, but I had a choice to create a better view of the situation or BVS.
I reminded myself that flying would give me an opportunity to catch up on some reading and that being alone, undisturbed in a hotel room would allow me to do some rewrites on my new book. From that perspective, the upcoming month sounded quite exhilarating. Plus, I was getting paid to do what I love to do!
I created a BVS from a CVS, and as I did, I felt my mood change.
You can do that, too. Change your current view of any situation to a better view of the situation. But, here is the catch. You need to remind yourself to consciously switch your perception and to paint a new picture.
If you practiced a martial art every day, the skill would become etched on your subconscious, and when you needed to defend yourself, you would respond as a reflex. If you repeat something to yourself one hundred times, three times a day, you will remember it when the need arises.
Here is the message that you want to pop in your mind when you need it. “Change my current view of the situation to a better view of the situation.” But that phrase is much too much to repeat three hundred times a day. So, let me make this very easy. The key phrase to say is: “CVS to BVS.”
You can repeat “CVS to BVS” one hundred times in less than two minutes. Do you think you can do that three times a day? Are you willing to invest six minutes out of your day to master a skill that can help you explode from average to extraordinary?
Give it a go for seven days. You will notice yourself becoming more aware of your choices in every area of your life. You will find yourself expanding your goals and becoming excited about your future. Most of all, you will raise the quality of your life.
James Mapes is the founder of Quantum Leap Thinking™, creator of The Transformational Coach™, expert on the psychology of “applied imagination,” best-selling author, highly acclaimed business speaker, consultant, seminar leader and personal excellence coach.