The older generation managed to solve their problems through acquired skills, that is, through their elders. The generation today has to manage crisis and are forced to view it as an opportunity and not as problem. Natural trait is a rarity these days.

Viewing a problem as opportunity rises out of the basic paradigms instilled in our minds. We believe that our perceptions are always right. The ways we see things are what they are, or what they should be , is our assumption. This is because of the powerful conditioning of our minds to believe what we perceive.

This conditioning happens right from our birth when we base our perceptions through our experiences. The raw data is fed in our minds in childhood and the mind starts filtering unwanted paradigms and shaped our knowledge as to how things work. When the experiences are repeated, the mind draws mental maps and strictly follows these maps.

As we grow, we realize that we lack the time to experience everything first-hand and we are taught to learn facts about things we will never see or experience. They do not truly seem to exist until they are experienced and thus our perceptions start becoming realty!!

For example, when something is lost, person A may search and search the whole day, starting from the place where it was supposed to be. Another person B might not care for the loss and go in for a replacement immediately. As mind has this perception of analysing and searching for the lost article, but Bs mind is tuned to perceive it as discarding the old and replacing it with the new. Another classic example is interpreting a half-filled glass tumbler of water as either half-empty or half- full. It depends on the perception of the individual.

Our minds are fine tuned to these basic paradigms. Our attitudes and behaviour are based on these paradigms. If we stay fixed to these perceptions, we cannot maintain wholeness. We may act differently from others unless there is a shift of these basic paradigms.

The best approach is to develop a holistic vision and shift our paradigms in such a way that they are congruent to other peoples attitude and behaviour. We should try to see the world as it is and not the way we feel it is. We should strive to carry the correct mental map, which governs our attitudes and behaviour, and develop a holistic vision of the world. Where we stand depends on where we sit!