#22: PERSPECTIVES
Think about your favourite TV show. It could also be a movie, a series, an advertisement… anything you can watch on TV. Now think about the whole environment that is around you while you are watching this programme: do you have people next to you or are you watching alone? Are you eating popcorn or not? Is your TV big? Think about these details and then, read on.
Now imagine if, instead of this context that you imagined, there is a person shouting your name several times and asking you to do some things in this place where you are. That is, you stop watching the program and have to do other things. Or imagine that the TV is in black and white and you can’t see the colours that actually appear in your film. Would you have the same impression of that film in black and white as you would in colour?
What if the sound on the TV starts to fail? Would it make any difference to you actually understanding the film?
After having thought about all these scenarios, I imagine that you must have realized that, even though the film is the same, the conditions in which you are inserted to watch that film will alter your perception of it. If you watch your favourite TV show with your best friends, with very good food and in a nice environment, the film becomes very enjoyable. But if you watch that same movie with people who don’t understand the movie, a very dirty environment and a television that doesn’t have quality audio, I’m sure the movie won’t be as good as the first situation.
Therefore, the way we perceive things that happen in our lives depends a lot on a whole set of circumstances and, even if many people go through the same situation, their experience will be completely different from yours. If someone had a very funny experience in a red car, for example, when watching a film with a red car, this person will already perceive the film in a different way compared to another person who has never experienced anything special in a red car.
Because our life experiences are different and they will impact the way we live our lives, know that other people’s view of life will be different precisely because of the experiences that this person had in their life. So, when you can’t understand the perspective that this person has about a certain situation, try to understand in which environment this person is to perceive the same movie you are watching in a different way.
