Being selective with your perspective

We had a very short power outage last night which left us without WiFi. It was pretty late so I took it as a sign to get some much-needed rest. Only one problem: most of the lights are controlled via WiFi. One light strip was particularly annoying to turn off because it had no manual switch and the outlet it was plugged into was behind some heavy furniture.

After managing to finally switch off my lights I went to write in my journal about the experience. I found myself writing something to the effect of "If the internet goes down I can't even turn off my lights. We think of technology as so advanced and we praise it for making our lives easier, but sometimes it feels like we're going backward".

Now that's not necessarily a wrong take, but it did seem to me that I was being over-dramatic. After all, I did find the whole situation pretty funny.

I usually use my journal to log things and events that I am grateful for or that made me happy that day. Because of this habit, I immediately became mindful of the perspective that I chose to identify with. Was it that big of a deal? No. Was I wrong for thinking or feeling that way? No. Did adopting this point of view bring me any benefits? Also no.

After this realization and some quick reflecting I changed my journal entry to "If the internet goes down I can't even turn off my lights and I find that VERY funny!". A completely different message. Both perspectives were mine. They were both true to what I was feeling at that moment. But only one of them was one that I wanted to identify with. And, in this case, it helped me go to bed much more relaxed.

That's not to say that I want to ignore any negative feelings or thoughts. That's actually the opposite of what I want. What I'm saying is that I alone am responsible for how I view the world and that I can choose who I want to be at any given moment. I find this realization to be very powerful.

Catchy title aside, being selective with the perspectives that we let through to the outside world we become more aligned with our true nature and we work towards becoming the best versions of ourselves.