Ever witnessed an incident that needed to be reported to the police? It's amazing how much the stories from each of the eye-witnesses varies from others who experienced the same event!

Ever wondered why that is? We each come to an event with a different perspective which is determined by

Values
Attitudes
Experiences
Environment
Your personality style

Values are the principles you hold as important; the standard by which you determine how things should be. Everyone has values. Some may be destructive, self centered or anti-social, but they are still values. No doubt you know of people, who have a different set of values from you. If not, check the daily news bulletin and ask yourself, would I ever do something like that?

Attitude In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Steven Covey tells the story of riding the New York subway one Sunday morning. A man and his children got on, and the boys were very rowdy. The father didnt seem to care.

What would you think?

What would your attitude be about the father's parenting?

Attitude has been described as small bits of information stored in your subconscious that have emotions attached. Maybe youve had similar experiences to Coveys story.

Depending on how you were feeling at the time you may have strong emotions about that situation. Those feelings attached themselves to that memory. When faced with a similar situation, your subconscious not only brings back the memory, it also brings back the feelings you had at the time. So, you have developed an "attitude" about that situation.

When Covey asked the father to control his children, the man apologized explaining they had just left the hospital where his wife, their mother, had died an hour before.

How do you feel towards the father and his children now? Additional information can provide a different perspective.

Experience Your attitude towards Covey's story will be affected by your own experience.

Maybe a loved one died and your memories and the feelings you had would color the way you responded to that story.

Through life, we have experiences, some good, some bad. All of those experiences contribute to our current view the world.

Environment - we are influenced by cultural and social norms, things learned from parents, friends and associates.

As social beings, we tend to take on, sometimes without question, those basic concepts that are the fabric of the group, whether it is two people, a small group of people, a city or a nation. If we didn't live by those norms, history shows society and the life-style it provides, would disintegrate.

Your Personality style: If youve had much to do with people, you would have come to the realization there are different types of personality. It has to do with the way your brain is wired and which sector is dominant. Your personality is a given, and theres not much you can do about that, except accept it.

So, we see the world not as it is, but as we are - or as we are conditioned to see it.

What shape is your perspective in?