Sometimes it is helpful to look at things from a new angle. It can be really hard to do, especially when you are reflecting or examining things about yourself. Even with others, we seem to become so easily entrenched in what we expect an outcome to be, or the way we expect someone to think or behave. Growth is all about taking a new angle. It is about shifting your viewpoint slightly and adopting a growth mindset. Thinking outside the box.
When you know yourself well, it can be easy to box yourself in. We can rule out possibilities and dismiss options based upon the past. Having someone else to challenge this thinking can be really helpful. Having someone there to ask that question ‘why?’, or perhaps, ‘why not?’ I work with people who are boxed in, mostly by things they see as being out of their control, and so they try to control what is left by creating a wall of certainty around themselves.
Loss of control is probably one of the scariest things we deal with and our natural default is to try to assume control again. Often we can’t do this in response to what has happened, and so we focus on managing the parts we can. We take such tight control of those that it can become limiting, and even damaging. Getting someone out of one of those corners is hard work, and while I throw everything I have into trying, I can’t say that it is always successful.
Usually I have to take the tiny shifts and moves and see them as larger successes – I try to alter my own view and angle to see things in a positive way, so that I can continue to encourage growth and build on what is there. I am thinking a lot about ways that I have boxed myself in as I reflect on my submission, but also on other areas of my own life. Giving up control and moving past what is there is something which excites me and sometimes I crave.
There is a looseness and a freedom, a lack of anything else mattering that really gives me a thrill. It is odd how quickly those feelings of anxiety can be turned into something else. The way the fight or flight response that holds us back in so many situations. but can actually allow us to move into the unknown with a sense of abandon. Pushing past your own barriers is so difficult to do, but it can feel like the ultimate reward.
The same endorphins and chemicals that we can experience as terrible and want to escape from can suddenly change into ones that make us feel somehow powerful and alive. I am continually fascinated by the way we experience things. The fact that the line between feeling so much one way and so much another, is one that simply seeing things from a different angle can allow us to cross.
Remembering to look behind what you see or feel as your default is hard. Motivating yourself to take a new angle is a constant work. Trying to flip things so that you can turn them on their head and experience them in a new way doesn’t come naturally to lots of us, and yet, it can be such a positive and productive thing thing to do. My reflection is forcing me to look in the mirror, but it is also about seeing things from a different view or angle, and embracing challenge and growth.
I posted the image above some years ago. I didn’t like that post so have basically deleted and started again. It felt that, as a piece of writing, it was from a different time and it no longer fitted what I wanted my blog to be. So I have done a re-edit of the image and taken a different angle with the post. In fact, the image wasn’t one I liked. The angle HL used to take the shot wasn’t one that I thought worked well (my bum looks MASSIVE). I have posted the original, taken from beneath me, below. In the edit, I rotated it, changing the angle and the view to something that felt that worked better.
Monochromerotic this time is on the theme of angles so why not add your link too, either by following the theme or not.
Awww thank you. You are always so original. I’ll admit I was a bit stuck for this one ?
Thank you Violet ?
Thanks May. The words do seem to fit ?
Awww thank you Michael. I feel a lot more comfortable now although still very critical about how things look. Receiving such positive feedback has definitely helped with being able to challenge my own thoughts and beliefs ?
That really made me smile – thank you Jo ?
Thank you Posy. I think the body stockings make interesting lines which can work well in photos ?
Thank you ?
Thank you. It was one of those pictures that you don’t expect to turn out but somehow it works ?
Oh I like the thought of that. Thank you ?
Oooo that sounds cool. I had a version the other way round which looked interesting too and I couldn’t decide which to use. I can’t remember which the original was ?
Thank you ?
Thank you Molly. I think the body sticking always makes for interesting shapes ?
Thank you. HL was really pleased when he read your comment ?
Thank you. I love a pun too ?
Thank you. And yes it looks a lot rounder than it is in real life ?
They are really fun and very inexpensive. I think they work well for photos ?
Thank you ?
Awww thank you so much. ?
Thank you ?
Thank you 🙂
Thank you ?
Thank you. It is always a bit hit or miss with us. We just snap and wait to see what comes out ?
My favorite detail is the shadows left in a cleft and how the narrow group of colors makes it all seem delicate. Lot of interesting detail for a single image.
That’s funny because I worried about how the shadows looked. I thought they looked strange and as if they were marks on my skin.
Not an expert but I will give you my opinion. Doing so might help lend perspective or, it might simply confirm that I am indeed odd.
Most imagery is rather flat if you will. Think of an image of a lady in a swimsuit. Rather two dimensional.
This reminds me of seeing scattered clouds laying on the hills. The clouds touch the peaks and meet their shadow there. That shadow gives definition to the curvature below. Suddenly the mountain over yonder has defined curves, dips and rises that would have mostly washed out in brilliant light. The intersection of light and dark illuminates the rise and fall and creates a visible third dimension.
Same thing here (if what I said made a licking of sense) and so I really liked the impact of the image.
Thank you for hearing me out ma’am.
Yes I do understand. I am not sure that we are proficient enough with the camera to be able to control what comes out really but I appreciate what you are saying. Thank you ?
Well I believe that y’all are doing well and this is a good example of being more proficient than most.
You are always so kind ?
I try to use what in psychology is called lateral thinking, which ultimately tries to change the angle, the optics, the perspective, to focus on the situation by turning it around. And it’s amazing.
Totally agree with your writing.
Oh that is exactly what I was trying to explain and have been trying to do without knowing it was a psychological thing. I guess I know lateral thinking is a thing but not related to psychology so that is helpful. I will read up some more about it. 😊
Sometimes – no almost always – it’s a good thing to look at things from different angles, to be able to change things for the better.
~ Marie xox
I agree. I feel I can get stuck with one view so sometimes require some prompting. x
I realize that this post is more in depth than it might seem at first glance at the title and the image below it. In my opinion, these are the reflections of a person weighed down by a certain life experience. And this image, which is interesting even in itself, without being tied to a specific idea, still begins to be perceived differently after reading this post to the end.