Perspective is an elusive thing. What’s clear to you, may be fuzzy to me. What’s obvious to me may be a huge mud puddle to you.
Rarely are things so clear as this pie chart.
The view from a Mountain Life Lens™ perspective can be vague, cloudy & confusing for a Carrot Life Lens™. And conversely, the view from a Carrot Life Lens™ can be narrow, restricted & head-in-the-sand.
What’s your share of the pie? What’s your perspective?
I love this post from my good friend Danielle LaPorte. So much that I’ve reposted it below. It’s a great example of how your perspective can be refreshed, enhanced & rebooted through knowing & telling your own story.
The biggest threat to your creativity…
… is the fear that it’s already been done, said, created.
(So why bother?)
Say it, do it, make it anyway —
but tell YOUR story along the way.
The story of how you came to know what you know.
The story of what you want to know more of.
The story of why you do what you do.
The story of how you came to care.
And that’s how you create what’s never been created before.
If high school algebra sent you into convulsions, hang on, this story has a happy ending. Terry Moore explains why the letter x means the unknown in math equations, in his TED talk (see below for the video).
If you’ve ever wondered why the letter x stands for what we don’t know, he has a surprising answer. Turns out it has to do with Spanish tongues.
The word algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jebra, which translates to “the system for reconciling disparate parts.” When algebra arrived in Spain there was tons of interest, however Spanish tongues, unaccustomed to certain sounds, intervened. (If your English tongue has ever tried saying airport in French, you’ll know what I’m talking about.)
The letter SHeen in Arabic makes the sound ‘sh’ in English. It’s also the first letter of ‘shalan’ which means ‘something.’ If you ad ‘al’ to it (as in al-shalan) you get ‘the unknown thing.’
Now here’s the kicker. Spanish doesn’t have the sound ‘sh’, so when Medieval Spanish scholars were translating ‘shalan’ they borrowed the Greek ‘ck’ sound. Down the road, when translated into the common language at the time (Latin) they replaced the Greek letter (called Kai) with the Latin ‘x.’
And that’s formed the basis for math equations ever since.
So why does x mean unknown in math equations? Because ‘you can’t say “sh” in Spanish.’
It’s a great example of how even how we move our tongues influences our perspective. X marks the spot & the spots the tongue.
What’s your worst nightmare if you’re up in front of people speaking?
What happens when we’re under stress is often a matter of perspective. Stress has a direct bearing on our perspective.
Check this video out & see.