Change Your Perspective With This Simple Mental Exercise

I've been holding on to a special trick that I use a lot, and I just realized the other day that I need to share it with the world! It's too good to keep to myself. It's an incredibly simple mental exercise that will change your perspective of people and hopefully result in a more optimistic outlook on people and life in general! So, here it is....

Imagine the Person You Are Dealing With As A Child

Attribution: RIA Novosti archive, image #811640 / Vladimir Fedorenko / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Really!? That's it!? But no, I'm serious, try it. The next time you are in a store and overhear a rude customer, or hear a mother reprimanding her child in a not-so-patient voice (we've ALL been there!) or witness pretty much any annoying or unpleasant behavior.... Imagine that they are a child. Suddenly they don't seem so awful. I'm not saying this will make you suddenly understand this person, or think they are amazing or anything. But this exercise does give you just a little bit of perspective. These are the reasons I believe it works:

• It acknowledges childish behavior in a way that makes it seem less threatening to your personal bubble. Suddenly, this person is behaving like a child. Guess what? If someone is being rude, it can kind of bring me down and take a little bit of joy out of my day. But in most cases, a child behaving this way is a lot less detrimental to your overall mood. (Unless it's your own child - that's a different story!)
• It gives you a little perspective on why they might be behaving that way. This person WAS once a child, weren't they? When you imagine the person behaving this way as a child, the wheels start to turn and you can see how this person may have reacted to an uncomfortable or discouraging situation when they were a kid. We all learn coping mechanisms as we grow up, but sometimes certain situations just put us over the edge. Realizing that this person may have been pushed a little too far, and that they are reverting to their childhood techniques for handling the situation, can help you to understand that their behavior might be more of an impulse reaction than a well-thought response to what is happening.

This technique can be used in all kinds of situations! Maybe you are working on a team project at work or at school and someone is being less-than-civil. Perhaps you are witnessing some straight up horn-honking road rage. The possibilities are endless! There are crazies all over the place! :p

 Of course, there are some situations that this won't work in. Obviously seriously harmful behavior may require you to call the authorities or get the hell out of there, like physical altercations or threatening behavior. But for dealing with unpleasant personalities, in general, it works!

 Finally, I encourage you to do this in positive situations, too! It is really fun to imagine your parents, grandparents, teachers, and other people you already know pretty well as kids. For example, my step-mother is just the most sweet, thoughtful person. Like, when my family goes to visit her and my dad, from the moment we arrive to the moment we leave, she is asking if we need anything, if we'd like to go do this or that, even handing us brochures and pamphlets for local area attractions that she has been strategically picking up over the last month in preparation for our arrival. I once found this slightly annoying and overbearing, but once I pictured her as a child, this behavior is now super cute and adorable to me, and I'm laughing just thinking about it. Give it a shot, and enjoy the the positive (and sometimes hilarious) results!