By María Murillo
When we’re watching a movie, sitting in front of the big screen enjoying the story, we can observe each character in different scenes. Some of these scenes might be happening simultaneously—on one hand, the story presents the protagonist suffering, while on the other, it shows the antagonist fully immersed in their role as the villain, causing problems, for example. As spectators, we sometimes feel like shouting at the protagonist, telling them what to do to emerge victorious, as if the actor could hear us.
However, this isn’t always the case in real life. We’re so caught up in our own roles, the protagonists of our own movies, that we fail to see: Who are we? What do we want? Where are we going? Who’s coming with us? What’s in our way? What are we willing to do to get there? And/or what am I waiting for to take the first step?
These are some powerful questions we can begin to ask ourselves when we gain perspective. If we take two steps back from the scene, stepping out of our role as the main actor and instead taking on the role of director, producer, or even screenwriter, we can choose how we want to experience a particular situation, which “characters” or elements we want to interact with, and what kind of story we want to tell: a drama, an action film, a horror film, a thriller, or a suspenseful tale of uncertainty? We constantly have the ability to shift our perspective, to gain a new viewpoint that allows us to SEE what our current perspective prevents us from seeing.
When we truly observe our own lives from the outside, we access all the answers. Conversely, when we are caught up in the drama, the truth becomes distorted. When we distance ourselves, we gain objectivity and see things with much greater clarity. When we live as mere protagonists, we become blind; when we ask ourselves, “What would someone we admire, or even a stranger, do in our place?” then the answers appear.
Let’s change our perspective, shift our position, and then we will begin to witness the revelation of the answers we’ve been waiting for.
