What we think, feel, and do are all connected and usually follow in that order. The meaning that we give each experience, word, and action are all defined by us as individuals. The more experiences we have the more beliefs we create from them and a viewpoint is born.
All meaning is made up by us as individuals and as a group. Why does every language use a different word for the same objects? For the same ideas? For the same actions? When speaking to others that don’t know your language you can still communicate with motions: hunger, thirst, sleep, etc. These are bodily functions but when trying to express, communicate, or discuss a broader or intellectual idea it becomes necessary to understand what is being said.
What is a viewpoint
A viewpoint is how you see something based on your education, ignorance, experiences, or choice.
There are many words that all mean something very similar. Viewpoint, perspective, mindset, and point of view are all words used to describe the same thing: your view of any particular subject or idea.
Viewpoint definition is “a position from which something is considered or evaluated”
Point of view definition is “an attitude or way of considering a matter”
The perspective definition is “an attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view”
As you can see many of these terms are quite similar in meaning. The trouble we get into as individuals, groups or society is we don’t have the same perspective. This can be even further complicated when the generally used term or idea gets twisted.
Twisting definition “to change so much as to create a wrong impression or alter the meaning of”
This twisting of ideas has been happening for many years now, especially in the realm of money and politics. Words that used to mean one thing just 20 years ago are no longer used the same way.
In addition, this twisting of words is creating whole new viewpoints on how we see things or perhaps ourselves. For example, the term passive income is highly used now and while inherently there is nothing wrong with it, sometimes it gives the wrong impression. The same can be said about the retirement point of view, in that instead of looking forward to what we do for work we look forward to “not having to work”.
It gets even worse as it can create an entitlement mindset where we feel we shouldn’t have to work and that we deserve a certain level of living without producing anything in the world. This is where we need to be cautious with what we choose to believe because it can really sabotage your efforts to create what you want in life.
Think about it: if everyone deserves to have a certain level of living without doing anything for it then who is going to do it? This completely shuts down the incentive to create on one’s own. Instead of going out and being excited to create value for others to help them get what they want so you can get what you want we limit the production in the world and create artificial destruction of an economy- your own, if not an entire civilization.
What are some common viewpoint examples?
We just started touching on one of the two major viewpoint examples there are. For the purposes of this article, we will describe them as victims and creators. In short, however, a victim mindset occurs when one feels threatened or unable to handle the situation so they resort to childish antics to get their way (we have all done these, it’s not an insult).
Victim mindset– Victims always point fingers and place blame on others for how things are going, often twisting what, or disregarding pieces of what, people say as evidence they are right. This mindset causes those around them to feel like they are always walking on eggshells, never certain what will set them off.
Most of us have had experiences where we did this ourselves. When you hear someone say something and you feel like they are trying to make fun of you, make you look bad in front of others, or are just being rude. This can be an example especially if they then turn around and do the same thing, you can know they are feeling like they have a victim mindset.
In the book “You Can Heal Your Life” Louise L. Hay asks the question that’s something like: “What sounds like you: Others are always helpful, or others are out to get me”?
This perfectly summarizes the idea behind what it means to have a victim mindset. Think about all the contention and conflict we see in media, perhaps our own relationships and interactions too. The division can easily be reduced to the simple idea that we all have been misled into thinking that everyone is out to get us and so we respond by “attacking back”.
The trouble with this behavior is that it comes from an illogical and incorrect viewpoint. We are in fact not being attacked by others when they say something we disagree with or even a direct insult. Fights, conflict, and war are physical, while the conversation is verbal.
In our minds, however, what is going on is our self-image senses it is being threatened. Also referred to as the ego-mind, it gets in the way of real communication, healing, and enjoyment occurring in life.
How do you break out of a victim mindset
Ask yourself a couple of questions.
1. Is this how you want to feel?
2. Do you really want to go through life feeling like every person you ever know is trying to make you look bad?
3. How does feeling this way really help me get the enjoyment I want in life?
4. How often have I done this in the past and is it creating or destroying the life I want?
Creator perspective
This is the viewpoint that is required to create the lives we want. If you are struggling with relationships then it will require you to step back from your victim mentality and find other ways of dealing with communicating. If you struggle with fitness, money, self-love, shame, guilt, or anything else it will require YOU to take responsibility for how you are feeling and figure out some answers.
To that end, all successful people come up with a goal and then they put themselves aside and ask how they can create value for others. This is the path to wealth that every book I’ve personally read has either directly discussed or indirectly explained. The more value you create for others, without regard to how or when you will be rewarded in return the greater return you will receive.
The mindset some or many of us fall into is that we have a hidden agenda or what’s in it for me mentality. Think about the last sales call you got.. did you sense they were trying to sell you something? What is your mindset about taking phone calls?
Were you nice to them and talkative? Did you answer their questions until they started going into their sales pitch or did you get rude toward them? Did you raise your voice? These are all parts of your viewpoint on communication, each part there was a behavior you saw from others and now emulate yourself.
When you drop the hidden agenda of say, making a sale, and instead focus on understanding the other person first it drastically changes the way your conversations go.
How to change your viewpoint
Words and phrases only have the meaning you give them. One of the most life-changing experiences I had was coming home from work one day hungry, tired, hot and thirsty. My mind was cycling down deeper and deeper into some negative thoughts which started bringing up feelings of discontent, uncertainty, self-hate, and the like. Almost home I said to myself “I don’t want to feel this way”. At that moment I saw a choice, which we can all make, I saw this line of thinking I had been letting my wandering mind go down, and the other option of thinking about something positive, something enjoyable.
Viewpoint questions examples
At that moment it became a choice for me to decide how to feel. That was a very powerful experience. What I also saw at that moment is that our feelings about ourselves, and our perspectives are the biggest behavioral pattern we get into. It’s not so much how we feel, or what is going on the real habits we hold onto are the habits of thought.
- What thought patterns are you having that aren’t working for you?
- What beliefs do you hold about (input a topic and keep doing this)?
- Are you taking the actions that will lead to the life you want or are you simply going in a cycle of trying, perceiving failure, giving up, feeling sorry for yourself, and then repeating the cycle?
- What other vicious cycles are you personally in that are holding you in the life of quiet desperation?
Conclusion
Let’s summarize by saying that a viewpoint is how you choose to see different topics. The two biggest viewpoints are as a victim that thinks bad things happen to you and it’s not your fault, or that of a creator who doesn’t bother wasting the energy to place blame and simply moves forward bettering themselves and the world around them. So what is your viewpoint? If this helped you better understand what a viewpoint is share it with your friends so we can all help heal and empower others by raising awareness.