Today’s inspiration comes from my friend, Leslie, whose eye for interior design gave me a surprising lesson about seeing things from a fresh perspective.

During a renovation project in my home, I invited Leslie to come over and check out the progress. She began in the sunroom where she looked around, moved to another spot and looked around again. She then asked me to follow her to the table.

“Tell me what you see,” she said, pointing beyond the sunroom.

“The kitchen and the family room.”

“Now let’s move over here,” she directed.

I followed her three feet to the left of the table.

“Now what do you see?”

“The kitchen, the family room, the front door, the stairway, and the hall to my bedroom—that’s amazing!” My mouth hung open, stunned at the difference three feet could make in my view.

“Exactly,” she said. “When considering a renovation or redesign, you need to see the project from the fullest perspective, considering its impact on other rooms. When you see a room from another perspective you can then allow that view to inform the choices you make.”

In her own gentle but definitive way, Leslie helped me change my mind many times during the course of the project. I found that when she helped me “see” things from another point of view, then I could better understand her ideas, even the ones I didn’t like. 

She helped me value the surprising gift of perspective and its power to expand our ways of thinking by shifting our focus.

Perspective’s gift is its power to expand our ways of thinking by shifting our focus.

Perhaps Leslie prompted what Duke University researcher Mark Leary terms “intellectual humility,” when we admit we may be wrong—or at least in need of further education—and “consider the perspectives of other informed people (including those whose viewpoints differ from theirs), and revise [our] views when evidence warrants.”

However, humility—or “remaining teachable,” my favorite definition I’ve adopted from my father—is a choice. We choose to learn from others’ perspectives—or not.

And as author Shane Parrish boldly suggests:

The ability to change your mind is a superpower.

We’ve been gifted with cognitive capabilities that allow us to learn, grow, adapt, and change. We alone, though, determine if we use that superpower and are open to what other perspectives can teach.

How about you? When has a different perspective helped you change your mind?

And on we go…

P.S. Signed preorders of Morning Fuel: Daily Inspirations to Stretch Your Mind Before Starting Your Day are available. Thank you so much for your support!

P.P.S. I was honored to be a guest on the podcast Persistence U with fellow author Lizbeth Meredith whose book, Pieces of Me; Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters was also made into the Lifetime movie, Stolen By Their Father.