The blockbuster movie “Despicable Me 2” is a fun and endearing movie that was a huge box office, but buried near the middle of the movie it was a fantastic example of how quickly a person can alter their perception of a situation. .
In the movie, the main character, Gru, feels very sad after discovering that the woman he just realized he is in love with is being sent on a mission to Australia.
Gru’s youngest daughter Agnes sits next to him and asks, “Is there anything I can do?”
“No, honey,” Gru says gently.
Agnes thinks for a moment and then asks, “Is there anything YOU can do?” Instantly, Gru has that ‘lightbulb’ look on his face and instantly springs into action. Simply put, Gru and his love live happily ever after.
This was a wonderful example of how quickly we can change our perceptions. Think about it: nothing really changed about Gru’s situation other than how he SEEN, or looked at, the problem. However, just by thinking about the question that was posed to him, he immediately altered his internal perception of what was happening around him and as a result, he suddenly felt empowered and went to work to change the reality of his life in that moment. moment.
Very often in life, many of us suffer the same fate as Gru: we have self-destructive thoughts … thoughts of “Oh, poor me!” without first analyzing what we can do to solve our problem.
Obviously, there will be certain situations where there is nothing we can do to really change what is going on around us, but even in those situations, very often we can at least alter the way we view a certain situation. By the way, my wife is a master at this.
We were recently driving to a local restaurant and a guy pulled up in front of us, interrupting us and causing me to slam to a stop. I was irritated and started to complain about his bad driving and whatnot. My wife sat quietly for a moment and then said, “Maybe there was an emergency that you rushed to.”
Needless to say, that immediately altered my perception of the situation. Was it really what my wife believed was going on? Probably not, but as she admitted to me a bit later, it definitely helped her not to get mad and ruin her day. He also informed me that this was his typical internal response to any type of situation involving a bad driver.
So what situations can you look at now, with a fresh look or a different perception that will help you improve your life or at least reduce your current stress levels?
