Perspectives and Perceptions
Dictionary.com provides seven different definitions of perspective. Wikipedia breaks it out into groups, i.e. graphical, visual, cognitive. All of which are relevant to the topic of understanding your place in the world. In addition to that, we are going to cover the idea of perception which Wikipedia explains as organizing and interpretation of sensory information in order to understand the environment.
“A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor’s.
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Here we will focus on the idea that both perception and perspective play an important role in how we engage with our energy and the energy of other's and how your kids can benefit from understanding these topics a bit more. This is a useful tool in being able to understand how we are engaging in the world and how our energy affects the way the world works with us based on what we put out and the perceptions and perspectives of others and how taking that personally, may not make sense.
Talking to kids about perspectives.
In kids class we use props such a picture frames with pictures in them, to demonstrate this issue. I have one group of kids look at one side of the picture and one group of kids look at the other and explain the sides to each other. Then we talk about neither side being wrong or right, or the interpretation on what they saw. Try this at home next time your kid is complaining someone is not seeing things their way. Ask them what the other person might be seeing that would make things seem different. If the child is in the heat of the moment, you may have to wait until the emotions calm down a bit.
Try not to project your perspective onto them until you have talked through all sides. Then ask "may I tell you my perspective?" If you push to hard on this topic, you could make them more concrete in their own position. They will feel like they have to be louder and stronger, rather than soften.
There is a fun Ted Talks video you can watch with your kids on this topic here.
Talking to kids about perceptions.
This topic is a lot more subtle and requires more maturity to see other people's sides of things. The best place to start on this topic is to just get them familiar with their own perceptions, rather than trying to get them to perceive how other's perceive. You can start with easy things, using the vocabulary they can understand such as "how do you think the weather will be today?" Then explore why they came to that conclusion. Start to notice how they perceive things. Are they feelers, seers, listeners, etc. Listen to their responses and start to notice where your child is picking up cues from. Everyone does this differently with different intensities applied to each child.
The more you know about your child's way of perceiving (and your own) the more you can use it to create a dialog with them about understanding what you are seeing and how it might be creating a different reality and energy field than those around you.
Play with it your self and see what you discover. Feel free to share your own comments below.
