Hi, I'm Kara Sutterfield and this is my podcast.
After over 20 years of leading one -on -one and
group coaching in professional settings, I developed
a passion for helping other women uncover who
they long to become and how to live into that
vision of self today. Let's deep dive into this
profound exploration together. discover how best
to embody the highest version of ourselves and
take action in this present moment to be her
now. Welcome back to the To Be Her Now podcast.
So happy to be here with you again. I had a really
awesome experience recently of getting to travel
with my spouse for her business trip. I tagged
along and It allowed us to travel to the Pacific
Northwest, which I had not been to in quite a
long while. It was a quick trip. We were away
from home for about five days total, but man
did I come back super refreshed, inspired, ready
to dive back into our regular life with such
a renewed sense of vigor that it got me thinking
about new perspectives. And so today I would
like to share with you ways to gain new perspective.
Some of which may not be in your current city
and many are because the reality is most of us
can't travel on a whim with the intention of
gaining new perspective on a regular basis. So
most of my ideas are things you can do from home
without going very far. So here we go. My first
two are pulled directly from this trip, so the
first is of course to travel. It is so refreshing
to see different ways that people live, experience
different cultures, see new sights, observe how
life doesn't have to be the rut that you are
in. It can expand to so many different possibilities
with just a few choices on your part. And I feel
like travel really brings that perspective. Now
if you are able to travel the world, awesome.
Another huge way to expand your perspective.
But maybe if plane travel is out of your budget,
maybe it's just about taking a little road trip
to a nearby town just to get out of your regular
routine for a little while. Another thing we
did while we were out of town but that I do frequently
at home to gain perspective. is spend time in
nature. So we got to go to Muir Woods National
Park and be among the redwoods which if you ever
need to feel small and remember that your problems
are pretty tiny compared to the planet continuing
to keep on keeping on nature is an incredible
way to do that. It's not every day I get to go
to the redwoods because I do not live on the
west coast. but I'll frequently go to nearby
hiking trails or parks and just immerse myself
in nature. Let myself listen to the birds, enjoy
the weather, no matter what the weather is, and
just feel small next to something that has stood
for hundreds or even thousands of years. Such
a great way to shift your perspective out of
what feels urgent and into what feels eternal.
My third idea to change your perspective is to
volunteer. Get involved with a cause that you're
passionate about and it does not have to be a
cause that aligns with the people around you
or that sounds good. Truly pick something that
is important to you and invest your time or even
your finances to learn about what that cause
is and to help be a part of the solution for
it. Idea number four. is to learn something new
whether you are learning that thing from a book
or a class perhaps like a yoga class at a formal
studio or community classes offered through the
local school districts or a video that you find
online there's a thousand ways to learn new things
now that cost no dollars but challenging your
brain in that way to be in the unknown to be
uncomfortable to be a beginner such a valuable
perspective that in so many ways can open you
to new ideas and other areas of your life because
you're staying in this uncomfortable state of
being when you're learning something new. My
fifth idea to gain a new perspective, and these
aren't in any particular order, is to have new
conversations. Whether you are joining a group
that allows you to meet new people or you're
intentionally reaching outside of your normal
familiar circle of influence, your closest friends
and family to get to know or better understand
or learn from someone that you wouldn't normally
encounter on a regular basis. That's a great
way to get new perspective. Lately in my own
life I'm doing a little experiment with this
one in particular where I've reached out to people
that I haven't seen or talked to in some cases
years to arrange to me for coffee or lunch and
just catch up. They've had experiences in their
life that I haven't necessarily witnessed or
been around to hear about or to learn from and
I'm sure vice versa. So I've been on a few of
these coffee dates and I left feeling so invigorated
by the conversation and I didn't go in with any
sort of idea of what the conversation had to
be. I just went in with an open heart and a willingness
to hold space and be present with someone with
a genuine curiosity about who they are now, what
they've been up to lately, and to listen for
ways that I can support them in whatever they're
doing these days. Idea number six is to read
or to learn about a topic that you're unsure
of every day in conversation. Gosh, I have high
schoolers in my house, so they're always coming
home with new things they've learned in school
that weren't taught when I was in school 20 years
ago. So just taking the time to learn about those
little things or the curiosities that come up
in your day is a great way to add to your perspective.
The internet is probably the easiest and most
common way to gain new perspective. But to do
so in a mindful way, how are you utilizing the
internet to intentionally expose yourself to
new perspectives with an open mind and heart
and to then apply those or utilize those in a
way that benefits your life? From YouTube to
TED Talks or to intentionally utilizing social
media in a positive way, there's lots of ways
to utilize the internet to add or to gain new
perspective. The ninth idea I have for gaining
new perspective is to sit in stillness whether
you practice meditation or just being bored on
the couch without the distraction of electronics
or music podcasts etc. Sitting with your own
thoughts in those moments of stillness is the
best time to come up with solutions to questions
that you have, problems that you've encountered,
ideas that you've been trying to connect or to
bridge the gap between. We fill almost every
second of our idle time now in today's day and
age at risk of sounding like an old lady. But
it's in those moments of boredom and stillness
that we gain the most perspective from the one
perspective that has the most influence in our
life and that's our own. But if we don't get
quiet long enough to hear that and to listen
to ourselves, we miss out on a very valuable
resource. And finally my last idea to gain new
perspective is to create events for yourself
and others that bring people together. Whether
it's a potluck or maybe a night to play games
or going and doing touristy things in your own
city. Bringing people together in mass or at
least three or four new people at the same time
will stimulate conversations that you absolutely
won't have otherwise when it's just you and one
other person and it's a great way to enlighten
everyone into new perspectives in a way that
they may not receive otherwise as well. I hope
that as you move into this new week that you
will keep your eyes and ears and heart open to
ways that you can gain new perspective. Because
it's through these enriching experiences that
we become the best of ourselves and that we get
to share the best of ourselves with others. I
hope you have a great week. Take care.