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We live in an age where pictures speak volumes and just about anyone has the ability to become a full-fledged photographer; however, before you get there, you’re going to need a few things. You know you need a camera and, depending on whether you’re shooting digitally or on film, you’ll need to load your device with film or some sort of memory card. Beyond that, there are plenty of attachable gadgets that can come in handy to take your photography from average to amazing. Whether you’re looking to take the leap from amateur to professional or you’re simply beginning your journey in the creative craft of photography, this list of useful gadgets will aid you in the quality and efficiency of your work.

1. Canon 85mm f/1.8 Lens

The Canon 85mm f/1.8 Lens is a medium telephoto lens that is capable of taking some really sharp and interesting images. It is ideal for portrait-length photography, like studio headshots, but is also capable of producing exceptional images while on the floor at events like weddings or low-light settings like concerts with its fast f/1.8 aperature. Its 85mm focal length is great for getting tight shots without invading your subjects’ space. Additionally, the lens is only 2.8-inches long, allowing the photographer to remain discrete with a less bulky and more lightweight extension.

Price: $369.00

2. MagnumXG13 Grounder Tripod

Every photographer needs a tripod and the MagnumXG13 Grounder Tripod by Davis & Sanford is a well-built and affordable one at less than $200. It comes equipped with an FX13 head that includes a fluid system, allowing for smooth 90° tilts forward, 60° tilts up, and 360° pans. At full extension, the tripod reaches a maximum height of 6-feet and can be contracted to a minimum height of 8-inches. The sturdy three-legged support system is also capable of holding up to 8 lbs.

Price: $189.98

3. Eye-Fi Pro X2

The Eye-Fi Pro X2 is more than your average SD card. It is a card with built-in Wi-Fi that allows its user to automatically upload their captured images to their computer or mobile device and easily share photos on social networking platforms like Facebook. Essentially, it provides customers with “endless memory” by safely delivering images to your computer and then deleting them from the card, freeing up more space of the 8GB of physical storage on the card. There are cheaper versions of the Eye-Fi product, but the Pro X2 has the additional advantages of Wi-Fi based geotagging, permitting photographers to add a geotag with each uploaded photograph to keep record of each image’s location, and wireless uploads of RAW photos.

Price: $99.99

4. GorillaPod

GorillaPod is a revolutionary camera accessory by JOBY. If a heavy duty tripod is out of your price range or just simply too bulky, the GorillaPod is the next best thing. Depending on your project, it could actually be the perfect little gadget that allows you to shoot your desired images that would otherwise be impossible to capture. This flexible tripod-like device has the ability to wrap its legs around anything from a smooth pole to a coarse tree branch while supporting your camera at the most extraordinary angles. There’s a GorillaPod for just about every camera from the Original, designed to hold compact cameras, to the impressive Focus which can hold up to 11 lbs of weight.

Price: $19.95 – $99.95

5. CowboyStudio 220 Watt Photo Studio Lighting Kit

As a photographer, lighting is everything, and it’s important to be able to control your light for the best results. Lugging around huge, expensive lights can be challenging and somewhat unnecessary if you’re just starting out. The CowboyStudio 220 Watt Photo Studio Lighting Kit is an affordable and effective lighting kit. This lighting pack includes two 110W strobe flash monolights, two removable 50W model lights, two 7-foot metal stands, a 16 x 24″ soft box, and a 33″ reflective umbrella. It’s an excellent choice for beginners to easily set up a home studio.

Price: $135.99

6. Hähnel Giga T Pro II

The Hähnel Giga T Pro II is a bit on the pricey side, as far as camera remote shutter releases go, but it is arguably the best on the market. The lightweight wireless remote can be used within a 100-meter range of distance as a shutter release control and for a number of programmable features including self-timer, interval timer, delay, long exposure setting, and exposure count. Exposures as long as 99 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds can be programmed, which is an ambitious length of time considering your Dell vostro 1720 battery’ life and the significant amount of storage space required to save onto your memory card.

Price: $99.50

7. The Photojojo Phone Lens Series

The Photojojo Phone Lens Series is the perfect attachment for photography novices who are still saving up for the perfect camera. These set of magnetic and easily detachable lenses snap onto most phones, tablets, and other such devices with cameras, giving its user the ability to take some incredible photographs. The series includes three lightweight lenses—Fisheye, Telephoto, and Wide Angle/Macro. Each of the sets, whether you choose to purchase them as a bundle or separately, comes with its own adhesive removable metal rings that stick to your phone, serving as the metallic base for each lens to magnetically attach to.

When I first started “pinning” photos on my Pinterest boards, it was a way to save a pretty picture and — I’ll be really honest — procrastinate. Then I started looking around the site, checking out other boards,  and I realized it’s a virtual file cabinet! You can create a board on any topic you can think of and save all your information paperless-ly (the trees are happy!). You can organize almost every aspect of your life! For the first time ever, it’s fun to be organized! Who knew?!

Let me explain … I love collecting recipes: I may not use them all, but it’s always nice to have ones on hand that make my mouth water. I used to keep a pile of mags, but the recipe mag pile became a tottering tower and I tossed it out. Then I came up with the bright idea of putting them in a special folder in my Internet bookmarks toolbar.  Problem was, when I finally had the chance to try the Chesapeake Chicken recipe I was saving, I couldn’t find it! After a while, I gave up and searched for it online. Of course this took more time and by the time I found it, I was totally frustrated and didn’t even feel like cooking anymore.

I was moaning about this issue to a friend of mine, and she told me that she no longer keeps any paper recipes in the house; she “pins” them on her recipe pinboard instead. I was astounded! Everything I ever needed in one easy-to-spot place? Yes, please!

If you’ve never pinned, let me explain: When you “pin” a picture on a pinboard, you’re actually creating a link directly to the recipe via the photo! Now, when I’m having friends over for dinner, instead wasting time hunting in a cookbook or bookmark, I go to my recipe pinboard and within seconds I’ve found my Honey-Lime Glazed Chicken Thighs recipe!

It’s really that simple.

You can use Pinterest for all aspects of your life — not just for inspiration, but to collect links to how-tos and directions…

I’ve wandered around Pinterest and have seen many a bride organize everything from wedding favors and cake ideas to décor, hairstyles and beyond.

Instead of buying a zillion home décor magazines, ripping out the pages, making a folder for the ideas and photos, then promptly misplacing the folder, you can pin it! The above photo that I pinned to my “Decor I Love” board  takes you directly to a tutorial on how to make shades without sewing.

How do you get other people’s tips? There are two ways: One, you follow them. Once you start following them, you see what they pin and you can re-pin it onto your own board. Two, you can search on Pinterest either by board or topic.

I started with just one pinboard. I now have 18 boards. They range from boards about plants I may be interested in buying for my home to laundry tips. This one above I   found from aswegrow. Did you know can use vinegar instead of bleach to whiten laundry and that unlike bleach, vinegar won’t damage your clothing?

You can even create a pinboard devoted to manicures. When you’re going to the salon, you can whip out your smartphone and show them the photo of how you want your nails done! No more trying to explain what it looks like or trying to describe a shade of blue — it’s right there! This image above from pinterest user april_hussar  links  to an article filled with tips, tricks, trend, and nailpolishes for summer.

I’ve seen boards created by crafters—knitters, crocheters and the like, pin the photo that goes with a pattern and they have a whole year’s worth (or more) of projects they can work on.

You can pin from your smartphone as well as from your computer, so you’re never far away from a cool idea.

Convinced? Here are my top tips on getting started on Pinterest:

1. Click on the ‘Request an Invite” tab at www.Pinterest.com. In a day (or maybe less) you’ll get an email from them letting you know you’re now a pinner. Don’t worry, they don’t bite. They say yes to everyone except spammers.

2. Set up your account. Pinterest offers a few pre-named boards like “fashion” and  “home” –  you can rename them or create your own. Some people on Pinterest have over 47 boards, but I recommend starting small and jsut getting used to the site, seeing how other people use it.

3. How to pin? This is easy. After you join Pinterest, you can download their “Pin It” app and it sits on your toolbar. When you’re on a site and you see something you want to save, click on the “Pin It’ button! You save it and you’re done –  the photo that will appear on your pinboard and that in turn will take you directly to the recipe, shoe, hot guy or whatever it was you’ve pinned.

4. How to find tips and inspiration? Wander around the site and look at what people are pinning. If you like what they’re showing you, follow them. When you follow people, you see what they’re pinning and you can “like” a pin or re-pin it to your own board. That’s how I got the curtain and cleaning tips and a ton of recipes.

5. If you’re like me, you get a ton of emails from magazines and websites. If there are recipes, decorating, technology, dating or vacation tips in the newsletters, instead of saving the email (and clogging up your inbox), pin the information. Go to the article then pin it in the appropriate board.

Since I started pinning, my paper pile is almost non-existent, making it easier for me to clean the house and find my dog.

Let’s say you want to become more productive

You Google “productivity tips”, and 46 million links appear. Click on a couple, and you notice most of them are lists of information, usually bullet-points like “use an organizer”, “keep your desk clean”, or “don’t take ‘Facebook breaks’ while you’re working!”.

So you try to use an organizer, keep your desk clean, and decide not to look at Facebook once every 2.8 minutes.

Do you know what happens next? It’s what happens to most people. You slowly forget…forget that you wanted to be more productive, and that you made these little promises to yourself about using an organizer.

And you’re back to where you started, except this time, you probably think you “can’t” become more productive.

Isn’t that what usually happens?

Why is that what usually happens?

People fail at change because of the way they try to change.

People simply misunderstand their actual problem. In the example above, it looks like the problem is that you just don’t “know” how to be productive.

Don’t know how to be productive? You didn’t know that using an organizer or actually cleaning your desk would increase productivity?

Of course you knew these things. And if you look up “productivity tips” on Google, you realize most of the pages are just that: telling you things you already knew.

If reading productivity tips was really the way to become productive, we’d all be pros at it about 4 articles into the 46 million on Google. But we’re not.

The actual problem is more sophisticated: you know how to be productive, but you don’t know how to make yourself do it.

But the answer to that is actually pretty easy:

The first step to changing what you do is to change the way you think. You do what you think. Your mindset inspires your actions!

In the past, you never tried to change the way you think: you tried to keep your old habits and ideas (laziness), and insert incompatible actions (trying to be productive)on top. Of course that’s not going to work.

But if you first thought, “wait a second, why is it that I have so much trouble using an organizer?”, you realize things like: “I get this emotional feeling that tells me it’s ‘too much trouble” or “it’s not any fun!”.

If you thought “organization is too important to pass up”, or “no matter what, I will be productive”, wouldn’t you naturally do the things needed to be productive?

So clearly, the right way to focus on change is to focus on your mindset before you focus on your specific action.

So how do you change your mindset?

The short answer: “The Top 3 Mindset Traits Required to Succeed at Anything” + mindset traits needed for your specific field + PRACTICE.

The Top 3 Mindset Traits Required to Succeed at Anything:

I picked these because they have been pervasive through all of the ventures I have been successful at:

1. Disinterested perspective. Not feeling like you “have” to be right about something, and being willing to jettison closely-held assumptions. You find it fun to be wrong because you learned something new.
2. Valuing success over comfortable failure.
3. Persistence; prioritizing long-term gain over short-term pain.

How you decide “these things are more valuable than thinking I’m right all of the time or laziness” is a personal decision. For me, I am inspired to write, start businesses, host a radio show, etc., because I want to spend my time only doing interesting things that I want to do, rather than have things forced upon me. Maybe for you, it’s the same; maybe it’s wanting to make more money so you can provide a better life for your family.

Mindset traits needed for your specific field.

For example: If my goal was to give a great speech, I could identify 3 specific mindsets necessary for giving a speech. I really think you could give a great speech (with practice) thinking about only these three things. Notice how they are different from “tips” that try to direct your actions:

1. Say only words that are value-added.
2. Think of speeches I’ve watched that were exceptional, and attempt to emulate them.
3. When my audience leaves, what are the 3 main points I want them to remember?

That would answer these questions that most people would try to use “tips” to solve:

1. Q: How long should my speech be?

a. A: Think about speeches you’ve watched by other great orators who have spoken on your topic. How long do they talk? What points do they emphasize?

2. Q: What should I talk about?

a. A: What are the three most important points you could make? What do I really want my audience to know when I get down from the podium?

3. Q: Should I include this example in my speech?

a. Does it add value to your speech? In other words, is your speech notably better because you included it?

PRACTICE = allow your mindset to become habit and overcome discomfort.

When I ran cross country in high school, I couldn’t run more than a mile at first. A couple months later, I could run 6 miles without stopping.

My original habit and mindset was to be lethargic and not exercise. Then, I changed my mindset to value persistence and athleticism. By practicing running, I not only got better at running, I also made it easy to develop and engrain my pro-running mindset.

Isn’t that really the same for everything? For anything you would want to do?

Conclusion

Success is a result of mindset, which naturally leads to the proper actions. Doing it the other way around leads to the all-too-common conclusion of failure, usually due to resignation (just giving up).

Luckily, our minds are one of the easiest things to change.

By Ali Hale

We all have times when we need to get out of a bad mood, or escape from a negative frame of mind.

I know I need to make an effort to change how I’m feeling when I find myself spiraling into a black mood. I might be unreasonably angry, irritable or tearful. I might be in one of those moods which we all get from time to time – wanting to scream, or hit something (or someone). Obviously, this isn’t pleasant for me or for the people around me, and it destroys my ability to focus on doing anything productive.

So I’ve found, partly through trial-and-error, and partly through reading the advice of others, things which help me to pull myself out of a bad mood.

Cheering Up: Things That Work

When I need to break out of a black mood, these are great instant fixes:

• Anything that makes me laugh. LOLcats – silly but it works, and The Onion are great online sites to keep handily bookmarked for when you need a quick dose of humour.
• Hugging someone (my boyfriend, my mum…). This helps when I’m sad, not always when I’m angry!
• Reading a book. I find reading very absorbing, and a great way to forget about whatever was bothering me. I’ve been using this as a state-changing technique since my early teens! I find that watching TV doesn’t have the same effect.
• Drinking tea. Over here in Britain, “a nice cup of tea” is seen by many people as a magic cure-all whenever anything goes slightly wrong. I find that sweet, milky tea gives me the comfort hit and the caffeine hit that I need to cheer up.
• Going for a walk. When I’m getting stressed with work, or a situation in my flat, escaping improves my mood almost instantly. And exercise is a natural mood-booster.
• Taking a shower or bath. Like going for a walk, this is a great way to force yourself out of a stressful situation. I also get most of my good ideas in the shower, so if I’m struggling with my writing, it can be a great help.

Whatever activities you use to change your state of mind, they should be things that make you laugh or relax. Don’t think “I’m in a foul mood, I can’t concentrate on my work, so I’m going to do the chores” – you’re likely to work yourself into a worse and worse frame of mind.

Wanting To Cheer Up

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The main problem I struggle with, though, is that when I’m feeling very upset or wound up with something, I don’t want to cheer up. It’s hard to explain this (or even understand it!) when I’m feeling perfectly relaxed and calm, and writing an article for The Change Blog, but part of being in a black mood means feeling that I can’t snap out of it.

Rationally, I know this is nonsense: I can and do change my state to escape from a horrible mood. The hardest thing is to just remember this, and to turn to my list of “mood-breaking” activities.

One thing that does help is when my boyfriend (patient and long-suffering chap that he is) recognizes that I’m getting into a bad mood; he’ll encourage me to go for a walk or get a shower, or he’ll come and give me a hug. If you’ve got a close family member or friend you can rely on, give them permission to tell you to take a “time out” when they recognize that you’re in a bad mood and thank them (once you’re firmly back to your usual self!) afterwards…

Something else that I’m going to try is making the link between a bad state of mind and a cheering-up activity seem more automatic. For example, when I’m feeling tearful, instead of just getting more and more worked up, I’ll take a shower and calm down. If I’m getting frustrated or angry about something, I’ll turn to a good book, or to something that makes me laugh. As soon as I recognize I’m in a negative frame of mind, I’ll automatically reach for that state-changing activity. I’m hoping I can condition myself to do this almost without thinking, as once I make that first move, I’m already well on my way out of the bad mood…

Avoiding Getting Into A State

Of course, I’d ideally like to avoid getting to the brink of tears or anger in the first place. I know this means learning to recognize what puts me into an unwelcome state of mind in the first place. Sometimes, there seems to be no obvious cause (and I blame hormones) but I can usually find the roots of the problem if I search hard. For instance, if I’ve been working too hard, I’ll often “crack” at some little annoyance. If I’m feeling overwhelmed with a long to-do list, one small thing going wrong can be enough to throw me into a head-spin.

So for me, and I suspect for many people, avoiding getting into a state which needs breaking means:

• Taking regular time out to rest and recharge. And importantly, not feeling guilty about this or calling it a “waste of time”.
• Avoiding situations where I know I’m likely to get annoyed. For example, my university’s computer room on Wednesday afternoons… people chatting on mobiles in libraries is guaranteed to get me seeing red!
• Staying organized with my time and my belongings. This means I don’t end up feeling rushed or stressed because I can’t find things.

Yes, it’s all common sense, and all stress-avoiding advice that I’ve heard time and time again – but somehow, that doesn’t make it any easier to take on board!

.

People often think of habits in a negative way. Ask someone to name a few of their habits, and they will probably report what they believe to be ‘bad’ habits such as smoking or eating too much. In fact, almost everything we do – the good, the bad and the ugly – is driven by habits.

Some habits are very positive and developing them will greatly benefit you. In fact, cultivating these habits will almost certainly have the effect of causing some of the more negative ones to drop away.

Here are some of the most constructive and beneficial habits you can try to develop.

1. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes

The importance of empathy cannot be overstated. It is so easy to think we are right, and yet our own mental habits or beliefs are, just like everyone elses, provisional and do not correspond to reality. The map is not the territory. We are not ‘right’ and other people ‘wrong.’ Genuinely trying to see the other person’s perspective can be liberating and mind opening.

2. Embracing change

People sometimes say that we live in a time of unprecedented change. It is true that change is happening quickly and that the world is complex and interconnected. But it is probably true to say that this has always been the case. The future is inherently uncertain, and the ability to adapt to it by being open to new ways of doing things will keep you relevant and engaged.

3. Embracing technology

One of the obvious theatres of change is technology. It’s changing the world and, if we don’t move with it, we will become deskilled and irrelevant. Some people try to resist technology – this seems like a very unwise move to me, like king Cnut trying to hold back the tide – it cannot be done and you will only get into trouble.

4. Taking time for yourself

It’s important to spend a little time each day just for you. Spend a bit of time on your own to o what you want to do. Read, write, meditate, play music, dance, sing – do what makes you feel happy.

5. Exercising (almost) daily

The benefits of just 20 minutes of exercise per day are well documented. Even 10-15 minutes of vigorous exercise per day can be enormously beneficial. It will keep your metabolism high and build muscle tone, both helping you to burn more calories; it will help you sleep better and make you less prone to illness.

6. Eating healthily

No complicated diets or spending hours at the market or in the kitchen are required. Just make some simple changes to the way you do things – eat a piece of fruit at breakfast; buy a salad for lunch or dinner; take some nuts of fruit to work as a snack; have a couple of ‘sugar free’ days per week; stop taking sugar in your tea. Simple, little changes can have a huge impact on your health.

7. Meditating

People who meditate regularly experience tangible benefits. Studies have shown that physical and mental health improves as a result of meditation. Nothing difficult is required – no training or special equipment and no religious beliefs. Just sit quietly for 10 minutes and watch your breathing, trying to focus only on the breath and nothing else. That’s it. It is hard to focus only on one thing for any length of time but, with practice, you will get better and reap the benefits.

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8. Reading

Reading can be one of the greatest and simplest pleasures. It can open up new worlds. It can truly change your life. With the advent of kindle and iPad, you can carry a whole library around with you. Even without the technology, just slipping a book into your bag for that commute for the ‘dead time’ we inevitably experience is a simple way of building the reading habit.

9. Keeping in touch with friends and family

People with strong social networks are happier, healthier and live longer. It is so easy to stay in touch these days, even if you live a long way from home. A short phone call once a week, just to ‘touch base.’ Technology makes it easy to stay in touch – Facebook, love it or loathe it, is actually a remarkably effective way of keeping in contact.

10. Positive Thinking

And finally, the most important one … developing positive ways of thinking will make an enormous difference to your experience of life. Your mind is where everything starts. The way you think is the key to everything. What you focus on persists and grows.

* * *

By keeping your mind on building these positive habits, the more negative ones will start to drop away. Try it and see.

A few years back, I was sitting with two friends at a dinner table. The talk turned to body language, and how it affects your mood. I proposed a simple experiment, which the others accepted.

So I put a huge all-teeth-bared grin on my face. One of my friends put a frown on his face. And the third one simply behaved normally.

Over the next couple of minutes, the wildest thing happened. I started having the time of my life. I was joking around, laughing, enjoying myself. The friend with the frown became grumpy and pissed. We eventually aborted the experiment, and took some time to get everyone in a friendly mood again.

The only downside for me was that after holding that a grin for about 15 minutes, my cheeks hurt. But I was laughing anyway!

Everybody knows your mental state affects the way you hold your body. An unhappy depressed person will slouch and look at the ground. But some people don’t realize the opposite is also true. It’s a feedback mechanism. Putting your a smile on your face will make you feel happier.

Try this for yourself

The above is all nice on an intellectual level. But you won’t truly internalize this idea until you try it for yourself.

That’s why I propose a quick little experiment you can try right now.

Really, give it a shot! You’re reading this blog because you want to change your life. And guess what, changing your life takes action - just passively reading and hoping it to change your life is like reading a cooking book, and somehow expecting to become a master chef without actually cooking any of the recipes!

Okay, here’s what I propose.

Firstly, think of something that makes you mildly-to-moderately uncomfortable. On a 0-10 scale of discomfort where 0 means “zzzz” and 10 means “Eeeek!”, this would be about 3 to 6.

Take the time to really picture the scene. Feel it. Then, as you’re getting really into it… stop! Just notice how uncomfortable you felt on the 0-10 scale. Remember this number.

Next I’d like you to stand up tall and straight, with your feet firmly on the ground, shoulder-width apart. (If you’re in a situation where you can’t stand up, just sit up straight). Pull your shoulders back. Hold your head up high, like an emperor.

Next take three slo-o-o-ow, deep, breaths. After that, keep breathing deeply, and put a big smile on your face.

This might feel silly to you. Good. In fact, that’s excellent! It means that doing this is unfamiliar to you. Which means you will learn something by doing this exercise!

Holding exactly this body language (standing up tall and straight, shoulders pulled back, head up high, breathing deeply and smiling), think of the same situation as before. Make sure you keep the same body language and keep breathing deeply!

After thinking about the same situation for a few moments, notice how you feel. How uncomfortable are you, on a scale from 0-10?

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You will find that you simply cannot recreate those feelings in their full strength. It’s going directly against the wiring in your neural system to feel uncomfortable while holding comfortable, confident body language.

Okay, now that you truly get how this works, let’s bring out the trump card. The “What if” game!

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The “What if…” game

Before I share the “What if…” game with you, I want to make one thing clear. It is NOT a way to permanently boost your confidence, motivation, or any other desirable mind state.

It works absolutely brilliantly for giving you a quick, big boost in your mental state. But it’s not meant as a long-term solution.

If you want to feel, for example, more confident in the long term, you’re much better off gradually building your confidence. Yes, it’s slower, but it has a lasting effect.

The “What if…” game, on the other hand, is brilliant whenever you need a quick, immediate boost.

All clear?

Alright!

The “What if…” game is very simple. Whenever you want a quick boost in a desirable mental state, just ask yourself the following questions. I will use confidence as an example, but you can substitute motivation, peace, or any other desirable state:

• When in the past have you felt supremely, asbolutely confident? How did you hold your body? How did you move? Change your current body language to be more like that.
• Think of any idol of confidence in your mind (for example James Bond). Imagine stepping into their body, and looking at the world through their eyes. How would you then behave? How would you gesture? What expression would you hold on your face? What thoughts would be going through your head?
• What if you were feeling supremely, unstoppably confident right now? How would you hold your body? How would you speak to others? What would your thoughts be?

And as you answer all the above questions, and take the time to imagine them, let your body language change. Move the way you would move if you were unstoppably confident. Gesture they way you would. Breathe the way you would.

With practice, this game will take you less than a minute to complete. And it will give you a powerful surge of confidence, or whatever other desirable mind state you’re focusing on.

Use it wisely, for with great power comes great responsibility!

As human beings it is inevitable that at some point in our lives we will develop feelings of sadness, hopelessness and even depression. These emotions can be brought on by something personal like losing a job, a failed relationship, or a serious health issue for you or a loved one; or sometimes they are triggered by something more global like corrupt political systems, war, or the knowledge that there are starving children all over the world.

Regardless, we are just people and no matter how hard we may try to mitigate negative emotions, they persist. The purpose of this article is NOT to explain to you how detrimental these negative feelings are, but rather give some practical tools for gaining perspective amid these rough times. Living with perspective means always looking at your life from the 10,000 foot level, and when you entrain yourself to pull back and view yourself from this height things begin to look a little different. More often than not, they begin to look much better.

So HOW do we do it? Here are four effective practices for gaining perspective:

1. Read

Delving into a well-written book can really speak to your soul, and is an excellent practice to feeling life from the vantage point of someone else. More specifically read a book that is told from the vantage point of an older person or someone towards their end of his/her life. Ask yourself: what would this older person who can barely walk and do anything by herself do if she were placed in my body? Begin acting as this person would if she had the ability to switch bodies with you.

I recently finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen which was a partial narrative by a 93 year old man looking back at his days in the circus during the Great Depression. Although his time in the circus was marked with struggle and fear he reflects on those days as the most memorable of his life. Are YOU right here, right now, living those days? Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is another wonderful tale that I highly recommend.

2. Seek out an older grandparent, great uncle or someone you know who is 80+ years and initiate a purpose-filled conversation.

Ask them about their most cherished memories and listen to them as they talk of the past, when they were young and vibrant and full of hope. Understand that they also had feelings of fear, sadness and struggle (just like you have), but get the sense that they would do anything to go back in time and re-live those moments. Ask them if they would do things differently or exactly the same. Come away from this conversation with the understanding that right now YOU are the one living the life you will speak of when you are older.

One of my biggest regrets is that I knew and remember all four of my grandparents, but never had the good sense to ask them specifically about their lives. If you still have these people around, seek them out; they are your family and they love you. The conversation will be beneficial to them as well and gives them the opportunity to share what they have learned, and they will appreciate your asking!

3. Volunteer

There are countless people all over the world who are in need of assistance, and volunteering your time and energy enables you to perform a selfless act that simply helps others. However, volunteering does not have to be completely selfless; in fact I would argue that becoming a volunteer is a wonderful way to gain perspective in your own life (and not in the “oh, look how badly these people have it and thank God I’m me” way).

Volunteering is unique in that it gives you a very pure opportunity to connect with people that you may never have met otherwise. I am always surprised by how much I learn about myself through relationships I never would have forged if I hadn’t volunteered my time. “Giving back” reaps perspective.

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4. Examine the actions of kids 5 years and younger

If you have your own kids, then you know what I am talking about. If not, then go to a park where little kids play and simply watch what they do (be careful not to appear like some crazy person)! If you tune in and become really aware of them, it’s amazing to observe how all little kids act with a similar reckless abandon. They simply do exactly what they want to do, all the time.

Aside from being absolutely hilarious, there is a serious lesson of perspective to be learned here. Remember, you were once just like these little people, but as you have gotten older you have gone away from acting with such a care-free attitude and become a “serious, responsible adult”. As you are watching these kids, ask yourself if it wouldn’t feel nice to be like that again, even for a little while.

Final Thoughts

Gaining perspective in your life is an important exercise that you must purposefully develop. By reading good books, speaking with older relatives, volunteering and observing little kids you can start to get a more rounded view of the world you are living. As you partake in these activities, entrain yourself to start looking at your life outside the realm of your current circumstances; see yourself as if 40 years from the future, and 30 years from the past. We all have very real problems and situations to deal with; some are in our control while others are not. The only thing that we really have control of is our emotions when dealing with situations. Gaining perspective is a wonderful tool for sustaining a meaningful and fulfilling life!

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