We need to learn to appreciate and understand different perspectives.

What a wonderful post. It changed my *perception on perception•
A teacher teaching Maths to a six-year-old asked him, “If I give you one apple and one apple & one apple, how many apples will you have?”
With a few seconds the boy replied confidently, “Four!”
The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three).
She was disappointed. “May be the child did not listen properly,” she thought.
She repeated, “pls listen carefully.
It is very simple. You will be able to do it right if you listen carefully.
If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?”
The boy had seen the disappointment on his teacher’s face.
He calculated again on his fingers.
But within him he was also searching for the answer that will make his teacher happy.
This time hesitatingly he replied, “Four...”
The disappointment stayed on teacher’s face.
She remembered that the boy loves strawberries.
She thought maybe he doesn’t like apples and that is making him lose focus.
This time with exaggerated excitement & twinkling eyes she asked ...
“If I give you one strawberry & one strawberry & one strawberry, then how many will you have?”
Seeing the teacher happy, the young boy calculated on his fingers again.
There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher.
She wanted her new approach to succeed.
With a hesitating smile, the young boy replied, “Three?”
The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded.
She wanted to congratulate herself.
But one last thing remained.
Once again she asked him, “Now if I give you one apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?”
Promptly the answer was “Four!”
The teacher was aghast.
“How.... tell me, How?” she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.
In a voice that was low and hesitating young boy replied, “Because I already have one apple in my bag.”
Lessons to Learn: When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you are expecting, it is not necessarily they are wrong.
There may be an angle that we may not have understood at all.
We need to learn to appreciate and understand different perspectives.
Quite often, we try and impose our perspectives on others and then wonder what went wrong.
The next time someone gives you a different perspective than yours, sit down and gently ask " can you please help me understand"?......

A young cheetah had just left home and was setting out to hunt for the first time. 
A hyena saw him and asked what he was doing. “I’m going hunting,” the cheetah said proudly. 
“What? You?” the hyena sneered, “You’re too small and inexperienced, you’ll never catch anything!” 
Demoralized, the young cheetah wandered around aimlessly for the rest of the day without success and went hungry. 
The next morning, the cheetah headed out to hunt again, hoping that he would be more successful this time. 
As he strolled around, a wise old baboon saw him and asked what he was doing. 
“I’m going hunting,” the cheetah said with a shrug of his shoulders. 
“Awesome!” said the baboon, “With your speed and strength, you should be successful in no time. Good luck.” 
Feeling encouraged and empowered by the words of the baboon, the young cheetah went out and managed to catch a young gazelle for his lunch. 
He wasn’t a better hunter on the second day, but the positive words gave him the confidence and clear mind required to act with boldness so that he could achieve his goal. 
The reality is, that just like for the cheetah, the voices that speak into our lives influence us. 
If you are constantly listening to negative voices telling you that you can’t do something, it will hamper your efforts. 
Conversely, if you are fortunate enough to have positive, encouraging people speaking into your life, it can spur you on to greater heights. 

So, watch out for who you are surrounded by and make sure that you have more than a few people in your life who believe in you and know what you are capable of and … make it a great week ahead!