Time to shake things up?
© Meredith Mullins

The Rewards of Seeing from Varied Angles

How often does your perspective change these days? Can you think of times when you expanded your view of a situation or of the world just by changing your point of reference?

• Perhaps when you summited a mountain and the 360-degree vista expanded exponentially while distant objects became flattened miniatures that suddenly seemed small in the grander scheme of things?
• Or, when you looked down and found a detail in the street that you’d never seen before even though you’d walked over it a thousand times?
• Or, maybe when you crawled through that narrow opening between cave rocks and discovered a cathedral ceiling of stalactites in an underworld worthy of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Hidden treasures through just a crack in the rocks
Photo courtesy of PxHere

Changing how you see the world is important whether you’re traveling with eyes and mind wide open or sheltering in place during a pandemic.

A constant shift is the key to gaining perspective in a chaotic world. As French writer Anaïs Nin said, “We do not see things as they are, but rather as we are.”

What do you see here?
© Meredith Mullins

The Time Is Right for Gaining Perspective

The timing could not be more urgent for gaining perspective. We are living in stressful times—a global pandemic, domestic and international terrorism, and elections with significant consequences in a divided USA.

It might be time to shake things up . . . to explore some examples of how to change one’s view, such as turning the world upside down and varying your points of reference.  There are many interesting ways to gain perspective as we travel through these chaotic times.

Embrace Matanozoki

Matanozoki is the Japanese word for peeking between your legs to turn the world upside down. A creative way to change perspective.

One of the premier viewing spots for ultimate matanozoki is the isthmus of Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture.

Matanozoki viewing near Kyoto, Japan. Can you see the dragon reaching toward the heavens?
© iStock/bee32

When you look between your legs, the sky becomes sea and the pine-tree covered sandbar looks like a dragon reaching to the heavens. (Granted, to see said dragon, you have to let your mind wander imaginatively . . . but, why not?)

Turn the world upside down from time to time.

Turn the world upside down for a change in perspective.
© Meredith Mullins

When in Doubt, Climb Things

A favorite way to change perspective is to go aerial. Climb things. Fly over things. See the forest rather than the trees.

An aerial view in Iceland becomes an organic abstract.
© Samuel Feron

Travelers love to climb things or to rise above ground level to see the “bigger picture,” to take pride in summiting, or just to make sure that they have the best selfie that adventure can buy.

The Empire State Building. The Eiffel Tower. The Seattle Space Needle. The Sydney Harbor Bridge. Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Everest. The Great Wall of China. Angkor Wat. Machu Picchu. Christ The Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

All of these places provide a new perspective, worth climbing to the top to see the world on high.

The tallest building in the world: Dubai’s Burj Khalifa
Courtesy of PxHere

Give Ugly (Different?) a Chance

Speaking of tall things that monopolize a skyline, structures like the Eiffel Tower in Paris were not always popular. When the Eiffel Tower was first built, artists and writers called it “a truly tragic street lamp,” “an ungainly skeleton,” and “the metal asparagus.”

Writer Guy de Maupassant ate lunch every day at the tower because, he claimed, it was the only place where he couldn’t see the offensive structure.

An ungainly skeleton or Paris icon—what do you see?
© Meredith Mullins

As we now know, most have accepted the tower as a Paris icon and a striking, long-lasting piece of structural art. Time heals wounds.

Another such structure in Paris is the Montparnasse Tower, completed in 1973, with most everyone wondering who gave permission for a 59-story monstrosity to be built in the center of the romantic City of Light.

The monolithic Montparnasse Tower
Courtesy of PxHere

I doubt if many people will ever come to treasure the appearance of the Montparnasse Tower. It rises like an angry giant and can be seen from just about every Paris neighborhood. When you photograph the Eiffel Tower from the north, the Montparnasse Tower is always lurking in the background.

However, once inside, at the restaurant Ciel de Paris, the views are breathtaking. (Ciel in French can mean sky or heaven. In either case, it seems to be true.)

Do the ends justify the means? You be the judge.

The view from the Montparnasse Tower
© Meredith Mullins

Look Up

As life-changing as being “at the top of the world” might be, you can also learn from hitting the ground and looking up. We are used to observing at eye level, so remembering to alter viewing perspective or to look up from time to time often offers rewards.

Experiencing autumn from the ground up
© Meredith Mullins

Like improv comedians or jazz musicians, it’s important to build on the possibilities of the moment. Pushing the boundaries and varying the view works well to see things more completely.

A new perspective: under a bridge looking up
© Meredith Mullins

See the Details

Whether you believe “The devil is in the details,” or the original quote, “God is in the details,” the point is well taken. Noticing details is rewarding, but you have to slow down and change your perspective in order to really see.

The beauty of the “up close and personal”
© Meredith Mullins

Try On Different Shoes

No, this isn’t an ad for the ample shoe closets of the Sex in the City characters. This is a call to occasionally put yourself in the shoes of others.

Become a child again. Feel the freedom of reckless abandon or the pure joy of skipping down the street. Let imagination run wild.

A new perspective: unfiltered joy
© Meredith Mullins

Empathy is also a key way to gaining perspective. What exactly is the other person saying or thinking? How might understanding their perspective change your own point of view?

After the U.S. election, several key figures suggested we put ourselves in the shoes of our political adversaries, in the hope that it might help to unify the divide. The time is right for this kind of healing. (But if you read some of the twitter threads in response to these suggestions, you probably noted that some challenges lie ahead.)

Seeing details from afar
© Meredith Mullins

Gaining Perspective from Einstein

As we think about how to adapt during these challenging times—Einstein’s words seem a timely message.

You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that was used to create that problem.

Oh, I see. The time is right to shift our points of reference—to change the way we see. Gaining perspective in a chaotic world is key to a brighter future.

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