The world I have been experiencing lately has had me thinking a lot about perspective:  my perspective, the perspectives of others, how to widening my perspective, yet sharpen my focus, how to hear and understand the perspective of others, and many other angles.

Perspective is complicated, but I think it is an important part of how we go about solving complex problems.  I think this is especially true when those problems, and the solutions, involve more than one person.

To aid in this discussion, here is today’s evidence that all life lived is relative and dependent on perspective. The picture above is of beautiful Lily’s Lake outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. However,  I’m pretty sure in many places on the East Coast of the U.S. it would be named as Lily’s Pond. This is not to say that it has been misnamed, rather I’m pointing out that how we see something is dependent on our prior experiences.

If we have limited prior experience, than we will limit our perspective. Here’s the thing: everyone has limited prior experience.  Regardless of age or of life lived, no one can have every possible experience.  I’m making what I hope is an obvious point, because I think it is a point that is often missed when trying to have discussions with others, especially when the individuals involved may have wildly different perspectives.

This point needs to be acknowledged and respected.  By acknowledging that we all have something to learn from each other we open our minds to try understand from where someone else is coming.  By opening our eyes, ears, and minds to the experiences of others we can expand our own perspectives.

There is a benefit to expanding your perspective.  It allows for more knowledge, from which to draw upon when solving problems.

To expand one’s perspective, I think it it worth seeking out new and novel experiences.  I think that having more experiences will allow one to be able to question their own perspectives.  By questioning one’s own perspective, a person may in fact able to be more sure of where they stand with the solution to a problem.  At the very least, it allows one to acknowledge that there may be multiple solutions to a problem.

If we insist we are looking at a lake while someone else insists that they are looking at pond, instead of just agreeing that it is a body of water, it will be difficult to move together toward any solution.