Perspective comes from the Latin word “perspicere” meaning to look through or to see clearly. It's a word I hear and use often, along the lines of...from my perspective, I think that...or, looking at it from a different perspective, I’d say...

Perspective is an interesting concept. It can't be measured or compared between two people, so even though we might think that we have the same perspective as someone else, we can’t really know it for sure.  And, our perspectives can fluctuate over time. They can change instantly with an unexpected piece of news—either good or bad—or, they can change ever so slowly as a result of nothing in particular, except our thoughts about whatever is happening to us as we go through life. Our decisions and choices are largely based on the perspectives that we form. If, from our perspective, we think that something is possible, then we are more likely to try to achieve it. And, if we think that something is not likely to occur, then we are less likely to put any effort into it at all.

 What I have learned through working hard to encourage and motivate my daughter to overcome the effects of a childhood stroke, is that my perspective—or the way that I see things—is only part of what should be influencing my decisions. Early on, my perspectives were strongly influenced by other people’s opinions, which were predominantly negative in terms of what progress she could be expected to make.

But, what I see now is that besides whatever I thought I was seeing clearly at the time, what was even more important is what I was feeling and believing. As I described in my book (which will be available in July), trusting my intuition, finding reasons to persevere and being willing to adapt my perspective based on even the faintest ray of hope or the tiniest sign of progress, turned out to be a big part of getting through the challenges that we faced and making progress—no matter how insignificant that progress may have appeared to others.