Your own perception of reality is skewed by the experiences you have had during your life. Every experience forms a belief of some sort, either for the positive or negative of a particular situation. The next time you encounter that situation your past experience carries over into it and gives your mind an image of the likely outcome.
We were created to think like this and react in this fashion. No one person can hold all the knowledge of the universe or experience all there is to experience. However all of us together can. We each live unique lives and are able to have unique knowledge and experiences that we can then share with others in order to have a fuller picture of the universe and life itself.
All experiences, both the good and the bad, are an important part of that picture. All perceptions are an important part of learning and understanding.
The danger comes when we begin to assume that our perception of reality is the only one or the “right” one. When we close our minds to other possibilities we do two things. First we cut off our own opportunities to learn. Second we cut off other people’s opportunity to learn from us.
If part of our purpose here is to grow and learn and share with each other and from each other, doesn’t it make sense that we have to remain open not only to each other but also to other possible realities and perceptions?
Each of us is the center of our own universe. Our day begins and ends with ourselves. Our day revolves around ourselves. However every action we take and every word that we speak has an impact on someone else’s universe.
In the past I’ve written articles about how a smile to the local cashier might change their whole day or how a foul word might do the same. For ourselves it might have been because we ourselves may have been having a particularly bad or good day, but the impact that our inadvertent actions or words might have on someone else’s unsuspecting universe could be anything from mild to major.
We share ourselves with every person we come into contact with. We may do this by becoming friends with someone and sharing a lot of time talking or doing things. We may do this simply by being a being that passes through very quickly across someone else’s universe. Either way we have an impact.
I won’t try to tell you today that it is important to go out and put your best foot forward in every interaction you have because as much as I believe it IS important to try to have a positive impact on the world around you, I believe even more that it is important to be honest and be yourself.
There is a fine line here and it takes a lot of self-reflection to determine who it is that you truly are. You have a role to play and lessons to both share and learn in all your interactions. If you are not being the honest you then you rob yourself and others of the experience.
It seems to me that the way of the world has become one of dishonesty. We tell little white lies to avoid difficult situations without hurt feelings. We tell big lies to make ourselves feel better or to impress others. But by doing this we sometimes rob another of truly becoming connected to us on any real level. We rob ourselves of true friendship. We do nobody’s universe any good. And we skew the perception of reality for everyone we come into contact with as well as ourselves.
My husband once told me that the people who are the most jealous and possessive are often people who have done something themselves so they believe everyone must do it as well. This is not always the case but it often can be. This is because by being dishonest and disloyal to another they have skewed their own perception of reality to the direction of all people are dishonest and disloyal. By doing this they create an atmosphere of mistrust and continued dishonesty which then creates a reality of it.
Often by living from a skewed sense of reality we then create the reality we feared was real all along, at least within our own lives.
So today instead of telling you to go out and spread love and smiles, I will ask you this. Go out and drop your old perceptions. Allow yourself to see the world with fresh eyes. Be your authentic self. Our authentic selves without the baggage of old perceptions is like a child who sees the world full of beauty and potential. See the world from the eyes of a child and enjoy the wonder of it.
By changing your own perception of reality you may just change your own reality. By changing your perception of reality you may help another to change their reality. So go out today and give it a try. Take baby steps toward this goal if you need to but take steps.
Be honest with just one person today that you were not honest with in the past. Be honest with yourself. Take responsibility for your actions both past and present. Rebirth yourself today and become new.
Happiness Realization 