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Dr. Ramona Garretson-Probasco, a licensed California Marriage and Family therapist discusses how to harness the power of perspective. Photo by Christina Macone-Greene
Dr. Ramona Garretson-Probasco, a licensed California Marriage and Family therapist discusses how to harness the power of perspective. Photo by Christina Macone-Greene
CommunityCommunityNewsRancho Santa Fe

RSF Golf Club kicks off ‘Get Smart’ series

RANCHO SANTA FE — The Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club unveiled its debut “Get Smart” series and it proved to be a highly attended event. Dr. Ramona Garretson-Probasco, a licensed California Marriage and Family therapist served as guest speaker, discussing how to harness the power of perspective.

She conveyed to the audience that this concept was a very important subject.

“I believe that by adjusting your perspective it literally can change your life,” she said.  “I have seen that in my own life.”

She compared the theory of perspective much like a ship that changes its course a mere one degree and ends up in a place far different than it would have been.

While the concepts she shared would not be profound that evening, she said, her hope was that one person would each walk away with something new to implement into their lives.

She picked the word “harness” for a very specific reason.  Much like riding a horse, she said, a harness helps with control. Using this perspective is a way to help anchor individuals.

Garretson-Probasco went on to say how harnessing perspective can help people with their past, present and future. And the power of perspective can free someone from their past.

“At some point in our life, we’re going to be faced with a challenge whether it’s in our childhood or whatever time it may be in our life. The real question however is, ‘How am I going to respond?’” she asked the crowd.

A different perspective can view these issues as a momentary setback. She used a phrase that perspective can either make one better or bitter.

Another term Garretson-Probasco used was to “reframe.” If a negative situation is occurring, by reframing it, one can learn from this circumstance rather than having it ultimately bring them down.

“If they just change their perspective, they’ve changed their outlook,” she said, adding how even in negative situations there is something to learn.

An advocate of counseling, Garretson-Probasco said in some instances, sometimes all someone needs is for a person to come alongside them when they are in a rough spot to help them get through it.

“In my opinion, we don’t heal well anyhow, without community,” she said, adding how this could be a friend, counselor, pastor or someone else.

There is a difference between “healing” and “healing well.”

“Some of us had painful experiences in our childhood and some later in life,” she said.  “But it’s learning how to integrate that. It’s learning how to accept all the parts of our life because really that’s who we are and makes us who we are.”

Garretson-Probasco said that embracing the truth is the starting point for surviving the unwanted, bearing the unbearable and finding hope.

Facing difficulties through the lenses of faith, hope, love and courage is key.

“As a result, resilience rather than defeat characterizes the present moment because the diversity is not seen as a setback but as an opportunity,” she said “In this room this evening none of us knows all the circumstances of each other’s lives, but the one thing you know is that harnessing the power of perspective will bring healing to our past, resilience to our present, and equip us to embrace our future with compassion, courage, and hope.”

Garretson-Probasco currently has an office in southwest Riverside County and is soon opening an additional practice in San Diego North County.