But it's a dry heat

Cracked sediment found in a canal spillway

I made this above photograph of dried and cracked sediment settled at the bottom of a canal spillway on my trip last weekend to Yuma, Ariz. From my perspective, it's dry land. Pure and simple. But to the viewer who's never seen anything like this before in person, he might not relate to that. It might seem hard to picture. Instead, it might look like what one person told me he thought it looked like, "the aerial view" of a town from the inside of a plane. Yeah, it could be that, too. Why not?  It sounds nicer, doesn't it. And if you look at the photograph with that idea in mind, you can actually see what he sees.

Perspective. It's what you make of things. If you can turn what might seem like a negative to some into your own positive, wouldn't that make adapting much easier? In that way, you might not see this photograph an illustration of what the heat of the desert really does to dry land. You might understand why the people who live here insist, "But it's a dry heat."

It's a dry heat?

If you've never heard this phrase before, that may be because you've never been to Arizona where the phrase is used to deflect the truth about the weather during summers here. Truth be told: it's H-O-T. Yeah, really hot!

If you live here, you learn to accept it. And I suppose, in a sense, it's true. It is a dry heat. That dry heat helps 115-degree August afternoons seem less daunting. The weather's dry because of the low humidity. You don't seem to sweat much because what you do sweat evaporates so quickly. You don't really experience that stickiness you'd feel if you lived in West Palm Beach, Fla., for example. I lived there one summer, and I didn't like that sticky feeling at all. It actually was kind of disgusting to me, while other people I know would remark, "But it's so good for your skin." Perhaps. And I'm guessing this dry heat where I live has a lot to do with my dry, cracked skin. But at least I don't sweat.

So, see, it is about perspective, isn't it?

Life, in general, is like that.

We learn to adapt to uncomfortable surroundings, people and situations because we adopt our own unique perspectives about them.

"It's a dry heat" makes living in the heat of the summers in Arizona more bearable for the year-round residents. But it doesn't change the minds of our winter visitors who will only visit during the winters, when otherwise back home they'd have to deal with their snow storms and icy roads. They don't like that, so they come here where it's warmer. They happily spend their winter days outdoors instead of huddling indoors out of the cold.

Perspective. It's what you make of things.

Think of a time when you used perspective as a way to deal with something discomforting in your life...

Were you able to... 1) see change as a positive or... 2) look at the less serious nature of the situation? Perhaps you needed to... 3) shift your attitude about a project you didn't really want to take part in but knew you could learn something new if you did. Maybe your situation called for you to take a... 4) step back and see the bigger picture rather than a more limited view that might have been keeping you stuck. Perhaps you needed to... 5) seek input from others in order to move forward.

If you're in the midst of your own "search for a new perspective" now, can you think of something to add to these five steps that would make that process go easier for you? If so, post a comment and enlighten us about it here.