Walking through my local city park this morning, I noticed one else was there.

‘There’s no one in the park right now,’ I thought to myself.

But then I remembered that I was in the park. So there was someone in the park after all.

Small, spontaneous perspective shifts like this remind me that a change in perspective is always possible. As Daniel Kahneman said in Thinking, Fast and Slow, what we see is not all there is.

There’s a lot of “Us vs. Them” thinking in the world. Many of us believe that “They” have the wrong idea about things, whereas “We” know the truth. But what we see — or what they see — is not all there is.

I’m questioning my perspective these days. I maintain my values, but those don’t have to be tied to a particular way of seeing things. Perspective is not the same as values. Or at least, that’s not the only way to think about it.

Noticing other perspectives makes me feel like a growing version of myself, expanding and opening rather than shrinking and hardening over time.

The city park is a good place for thinking deep thoughts. I’m going to go there more often … even if no one (else) is there.

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