How is your perception affecting your day?
How you take in, pick up, understand the world is entirely up to you and the way you process things. Perception is different to every single person. How they read into something, or how they see things is going to be based on their nurture and their nature. Everything we have gone through since birth is being interpreted by our brain and this teaches us how to act, feel, and be. But can what we learn or how we interpret things be false?
As we grow we learn what works and what doesn’t. We are taught how we fit in the world and how we should act in the world, but all of these things are based on other people’s opinions of us. There are however some concrete facts that are universal yet some people tend to ignore them anyways such as do not kill, do not hurt someone else, No means no, and many others. These concrete rules make it so that everyone can live in harmony of one another without chaos ruling the planet, yet there are many who didn’t get the memo or threw it out. But I digress.
The fact is everyone’s perception is different and even with rules and other people’s opinions and what you learn you still are interpreting the world around you very uniquely. This is important because our perception of things helps us to figure out how to act, feel and be. But what you were told from birth may in fact not resonate with who you are, which Is why sometimes our perception of ourselves and others may not be right. Things like trauma, pain, and hurt may cloud your perception and keep you on high alert expecting the same things to repeat. Or you may have rose colored glasses on that blind you to the truth that may be going on.
Bias is based on our own life experiences and because we perceive based on what we know, outside of that we can tend to be pre-biased causing us to in fact be closed to other possibilities. This means that you could interpret what a friend says as aggressive rather than honest, or you could reread a text over and over to discover some hidden meaning when in fact it was direct with no ulterior motive. This is because of our perception. Everything we are seeing right now is being interpreted from knowledge vaults of our experiences. If something is reminiscent of a bad past experience than we tend to be in a triggered state that interprets everything happening as a threat to you or a potential threat.
Perception is a solo act. No two people will perceive things the same exact way. Let’s get an understanding of this whole perception thing and how it can truly affect your mentality. For instance today I got riled up and insecure because my interpretations of my progress and understanding of owning a business made me feel inadequate. With only 1 month until my big launch as Dare to Habit I had a minor anxious day because of all the work that still needs to be done, plus my lack of understanding as a leader. I psyched myself out and started switching my mentality from determined and focused to frantic and all over. This is because my perception of myself, my skill set, and what I am doing were one that was completely untrue of what is going on.
Over the past month I have done more work on my business and myself then I have in the past few years. I got committed and invested and then took a leap of faith. Along the way I’ve had hiccups and addressed every single one of these with the attention it requires while pushing myself further each day. Todays minor freak out was because it marks the fact I have 1 month left at my current space. I began to compare myself to other businesses, other people, and then shame myself for not being a better leader. (Duh how could I be a better leader if I haven’t had the opportunity yet?) But my perception was that I was a failure and a joke because I wasn’t doing enough or being enough.
These minor freak outs occur because of my upbringing and the things I learned from them. I was made to believe I was to blame for everything, that I was a burden, that I was worthless, time and time again so anytime there is an obstacle I immediately begin a rabbit hole of what if’s, possible outcomes, and can I do this. It was my way of taking charge at a young age and being self reliant. Though I have these moments of doubt (like many others do) mine are based on all my experiences. Even if someone else was going through the same exact thing we would perceive everything in a different way based on being 2 different people with 2 different lives.
Our perceptions can shift us out of the present and into places that leave us freaking out, overwhelmed, panicked, anxious, sad, depressed and more. That is why having a way to ground yourself is very important because you could misinterpret people, things and events all because your shifting into a different perception of things. What we perceive is our truth and even though I had a freak out doesn’t mean that it was wrong, it just means that I shifted my focus to things outside of my control rather than stay in the moment.
We all have a different perception of people, places, things and events and this is okay. It is what we do with our perceptions that determines how we act, feel, and be in this world. If you are perceiving someone as an asshole based on their tattoos then maybe take a minute and speak to them, find out more information on them or just avoid them. Like always the choice is yours, but that type of perception is judgmental based on things that may be inaccurate and speculation. You never know what someone else has went through, is going through or may go through so working on being open, unbiased, and kind are the best ways to approach any situation. You may find that it switches your perceptions as well and find more happiness.
Make sure that what you are perceiving is the truth and not coming from a place of fear, anxiety, past stories, negative headspace. Going into something with a negative mentality will only make your perception negative and vice versa. If you are having a problem ask some friends, consult a therapist or take a breather to gain some perspective. You may be interpreting things based on the past or from fear.
Today was a 7.