A few years ago I watched a Dennis Quaid film called Vantage Point. The film was full of action but it wasn’t the storyline that made the biggest impact on me. It was the way it was filmed.

The film starts with the President of the United States being shot while delivering a speech in a public square in Spain after which a bomb explodes killing many of the crowd who had come to hear him speak. This might sound like a ‘spoiler alert’ but this all happens in the first 10 minutes of the film. After the bomb explodes the pieces of the scene fly back together in a super fast rewind before starting to play again. This happens several times and although to begin with you’re not sure quite what’s going on, as you watch you realise that you’re seeing the same events but through the eyes of a different person. Each time the footage plays you’re seeing a different perspective or from a new Vantage Point.

It’s actually very clever. The story plays out like a modern day ‘whodunnit’ and as you watch you begin to see how the events you’ve seen in each of the versions fit together.

And the reason this made such a big impact on me?

It reminded me of life

Each one of us is seeing the events around us through our own eyes. Through our own perception and perspective. From our own Vantage Point. It’s natural that this is how it is right? We look at what’s happening, what we’re experiencing and we tell ourselves that what we see is the truth.

But is it really? Or perhaps its just a version of the truth which if you were to shift your Vantage Point, or shift your perspective, might disappear and reappear as something quite different. What you see always depends on where you stand.

Some things are hidden from view because something else is blocking the line of sight

It doesn’t mean it isn’t there though.

If you move a little, or a lot, suddenly more is revealed

Think about buying tickets for a concert or sports match held in a stadium. Usually there is a sliding purchase price depending on how good the view is from the seats you select. If you want the best Vantage Point, where you get to see everything clearly, you may need to pay a little more. If you choose the cheaper seats then chances are you will miss some of the action. You might see it on the big screen but from where you’re sitting, you can’t see it at all.

And isn’t that what the big screen is for? To ensure you don’t miss the action no matter where you choose to sit? Let’s think about the big screen as the big picture. The big picture is made up of millions of tiny information pixels and if some of them don’t get displayed correctly, the picture is incomplete.

It’s the same with life

To see the big picture we need to have all the information. Most of us never take the time or make the effort to get all the information to discover the truth. We simply look at what’s happening from the viewpoint we’ve been given and believe that that’s all there is.

But there is so much more. What if you were the person on the other side of the conversation.

How might it look from there?

You’ve probably heard the expression ‘put yourself in somebody else’s shoes’. And maybe you’ve tried to do that. Maybe you’ve been able to imagine how someone might be feeling based on how you think you might feel in the same situation.

But what if it’s closer to home. What about when it’s someone you’re disagreeing with? Or someone you’re arguing with? How easy is it for you to shift your view then?

Not so simple huh?

It’s important to remember that everything is subjective and just because something is true for you from your experience, doesn’t make it true for someone else. They are looking through their own experiences and their own understandings.

You’re standing at a very different Vantage Point …

Sometimes it’s hard to accept that what we believe to be true is only part of the view. That in fact where we’re standing is dictating the view we can see. And if we were to honestly and respectfully change places, we might see a very different truth.

Think of the referee on the football pitch. It’s difficult for them to see everything as the action happens very fast. But the on-pitch cameras catch it all. They are positioned in various places around the stadium so they can catch the events from every perspective. If one camera doesn’t show the action clearly, another one will. When you view the action from different angles, the big picture is revealed allowing the referee to make the correct decision.

Same in life.

Only when we shift our view can we see the big picture

Only then can we see the truth that lies between two people. The next time you find yourself in an argument or disagreement with someone, why not take a step back for a moment. Press rewind and look again from a different Vantage Point. Adding a new perspective to what you’ve always believed to be true is life changing. You cannot simply go back and ‘un-see’ what you’ve discovered.

Look again

What you see might surprise you!