Did I get your attention? What was the first thought that entered your mind before you began to read the post? Let me guess. Your thoughts were most likely about sex and endurance. Well the article is about neither – it’s about something much more intriguing (at least I think so). PERCEPTION!
Perception is everything. In fact, perception exceeds what is real. What you perceive is what shows up in your physical reality. We judge and we project onto others with little or no evidence of what we believe is true. If you see me buying condoms at a store you would perceive that I am planning on having protected sex. If you see me buying a 4 pack of red bull at the store you may perceive me as a person who needs an extra burst of energy. If you witness me buying both red bull and condoms in unison you may conclude – wow that’s a great combination. Regardless of what you believe you have no way of knowing whether it is true.
But you act as if it is true and then you begin to gossip about it to your friends, neighbors or perhaps your spouse. If fact, sometimes you gossip so much that it goes viral and now everybody is buying red bull and condoms. If you ask them why that choose such a unique combination, they will make up a story about it and the lies (I mean perceptions) continue.
A much better approach is to assume you don’t know much about anything. I could be buying the red bull and condoms because I have noticed increased stamina during sex and I’d rather not get anyone pregnant. I could be buying the red bull for myself and the condoms for a friend. I could have known about red bull for a while and finally decided to try it for the first time and just happen to see the condoms on sale. As you can see there are an infinite number of possibilities that could be true but we go through life like we’ve got the universe on lock down.
I think its completely normal to perceive something that may or may not be true. However, to believe in absolutes is a bit ludicrous. Know that you perceptions are quite fallible and there is a very high probability that you could be wrong. Things are often not as they appear and I think that life is set up this way because it allows us to remain humble.
What perceptions colored your experience in a non-empowering way today? Who would you be without your perceptions? How would you view others especially yourself if you were to reconsider many of the perceptions you hold as absolute truths?
That’s my spin on it.
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