Many of you have probably seen this illusion before in which if you look one way, you see a young woman, and if you look another way, you see an old woman. The original is over 130 years old and still around, probably because it demonstrates an important truth in life: how we see the world is simply a matter of our perspective, and changing our perspective can change everything.

So it is when we want to change ourselves. Many of us are stuck in a perception that we are someone we don’t like, maybe even someone who is broken. By changing that into its opposite: that perhaps there is a world out there in which we do like ourselves and in which we are whole, we create that possibility in our lives. We go from only seeing one option to seeing another.

I encounter this in my work all the time. People come because they’re tired of seeing a bleak version of themselves and want to envision how they engage in life in other ways. They want to show up in the world calmer, more confident, more relaxed, more focused, more ready to be who they suspect that they really are under the surface.

Biofeedback works by holding a metaphoric mirror to ourselves. It rewards us for changing what we see in that metaphoric mirror. It’s a slow and steady process that can create great change in those who also are ready to change their perspective and see the person they want to be.

Hypnosis works by speaking with the subconscious mind and nudging it so it can see and adopt other ways too.

So, who did you see first when you looked at the image: the young woman or the old? Can you see both? Wouldn’t you like to embrace a fuller perspective? Give me a call, and let’s talk about how you can shift your perspective and your life in the new year.

P.S. An interesting site for the history of the flipping woman is here.