There were men with big rifles on the side of the road….
This (true!) story happened to me recently in Southern France.
Hunters were on the lookout for sanglier/wild boar (those furry critters above).
And it got me thinking about how we all wear invisible glasses that shape our perspective.
In part one, I wrote about eight things that have caused a lens shift for me as I’ve literally shifted my life to living in France.
Now, in part two, let’s chat about what this has to do with you.
Why should you think about shifting the lenses you view the world through?
Great question! Glad you asked.
If you know me and you’ve read my work or taken a workshop with me, you’ll know that learning means everything to me.
And a critical part of learning is being open to new ways of looking at things.
This is so very important in today’s world. It’s more important than ever that we constantly look for new ways to look at things because you’ll:
- Learn so much. Seriously. Galaxies will open up.
- Learn more than you ever thought possible … about yourself.
- Have your faith restored and hope uplifted that change is possible and that moving forward with “relentless decency” (as Tod Maffin likes to say) is not only possible but probably.
But … you don’t have to uproot your whole life to have a shift in lenses
Based on my musings from part one, what I recommend to shift the lens on your own thinking is:
- Shift how you read people. Maybe “cold” means “warm” in another culture.
- Culture is a bit like a box. You can stay within your own cultural framework, your box, or you can step out and into others. I highly recommend the latter.
- Rhythm reset? You bet. Yes, and high five to that. Look at your rhythms and how you can shift them.
- Think about how much you throw away that could be somebody else’s treasure.
- Reinvention doesn’t require burning everything down. Sometimes it just requires opening a new door in a very old wall.
- Think about what you’re consuming in quantity when quality is what you actually want.
- Basic needs, when they’re reliably met, stop being basic. Notice them. Be grateful.
- Language isn’t just communication. It’s a worldview made audible. Think about taking up another language (all that hard work just may be a means of preventing Alzheimer’s!).
Here’s where the Life Lenses® piece comes in.
The hunters on the side of the road weren’t alarming because they were dangerous. They were startling because they didn’t fit my lens.
My lens said: guns on the roadside = something wrong.
Their lens said: Tuesday = hunting day, same as always.
Neither lens is wrong. Both are real. And if I only ever operated from my own lens, I’d have spent that Tuesday morning anxious about something that everyone else found completely unremarkable.
That’s the gift and the challenge of Life Lenses® work. We all walk around wearing a pair of invisible glasses that we didn’t choose, can’t always see, and rarely think to question.
They’re made up of where we grew up, what we were rewarded for, what scared us, what we were told was normal.
And those glasses? They’re shaping every conversation you have, every decision you make, every colleague you find frustrating, every situation you misread.
France didn’t give me new glasses. But it did make me aware I was wearing some.
Here’s the practice, whether you’re in France or in your office or on a Zoom call at (ugh) 7 am.
Find one thing today that surprises or irritates you … and get genuinely curious about it.
Not “why are they doing it wrong.” But: “What lens would make this completely sensible?”
The colleague who goes quiet in meetings. The teammate who seems disengaged. The manager who never gives direct feedback. The community member who doesn’t respond to emails but shows up reliably in person.
What if they’re not broken? What if they’re just French?
(Metaphorically speaking.)
Try asking: “What would have to be true about this person’s lens for this behaviour to make complete sense?”
That question alone can shift a conflict, save a relationship, and stop you from spending a Tuesday morning worried about roadside men with guns.
Take Action Now – go on and learn, laugh, and lead
Learn
- Find one thing today that surprises or irritates you … and get genuinely curious about it.
Laugh
- In a world that tends to dampen curiosity, be a curious cat.
Lead
- Want to find out which lens you’ve been wearing .. and how it’s shaping your relationships, your decisions, and your blind spots? The Life Lenses® assessment is a great place to start. Take the Life Lenses® assessment here.
P.S.
- The Roundtable is on summer break and returns in September. Watch this space for details. In the meantime, if the Life Lenses® framework is making you lean forward, the assessment is here, and it’s the closest thing to X-ray specs I’ve found for understanding the people around you.
Since 2009, I’ve been writing weekly posts across five topics. Click into whichever one makes you lean forward just now … you’ll find everything I’ve written on that topic waiting for you there.
- Working Better Together – communication, conflict, creativity, collaboration, change. The so-called soft skills that turn out to be the hardest ones.
- Learning and Development – practical tools and fresh thinking for your own growth … because you deserve the same attention you give everyone else.
- Training of Trainers – if you’ve ever been asked to teach, train, or share your expertise with a group, this one’s for you.
- Tech Tools – not the scary kind, I promise. The kind that saves time, cuts overwhelm, and makes you look and feel like a rockstar.
- Life Lenses® – because the lens you look through changes everything. Posts on perspective, perception, and the Life Lenses® framework for understanding why we all see things so differently.
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