What’s your perspective?

What stories are you and your partner making up about each other?

What stories are playing out each time you have an argument or disagreement?

Are those stories going around and around leaving you feeling like you’re stuck in perpetual cycle of repetition and never moving forward?

The trouble with stories is that we all believe that our perception is the correct perception and tend to forget that the same story, seen through someone else’s eyes, heard through someone else’s ears or felt with someone else’s emotions can be completely different to the story we’re telling ourselves.

I recently watched the musical “Come from Away” with my son.  It tells the story of the 9/11 atrocities but from a very different perspective.  It’s the story of the passengers on the 38 planes that were diverted from US Air space and had to make unexpected landings in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland and how the town suddenly doubled in size to in accommodating the 7,000 passengers who suddenly became residents until they were able to return home almost a week later.

It told the story of 9/11 but from a completely different perspective and it was riveting viewing. Many of the stories within the musical are true and whilst they all tell the story of 9/11, every single one of them is different.

The same story, so many different perspectives.

So many of the clients I work with are stuck in a story seen only from their perspective.  When I suggest a different perspective, it takes them a while to acknowledge that theirs isn’t the only perspective, but I also see the penny drop; the light bulb goes on and they suddenly understand why they’ve been stuck in that perpetual cycle of repetition.

We all like to think that our perception of events is right, but often it takes someone completely objective to suggest that maybe the other party’s perception is right too.  It doesn’t change our own perception but it does give us an alternative perspective.

When we break down the barrier that’s limiting understanding and start to step into someone else’s perception, then we can break the cycle of repetition and start to repair our relationship.

What do you need to see from your partner’s perspective today?

What barriers do you need to break through to rebuild your relationship?