Perceptions, Reality and Life

[tconnor]

Motivation Tip #71
Perceptions, Reality and Life

If you would only see life as I do.

Why won't the people in our lives see life as we do. Because everyone sees life differently. Everyone looks through their own set of personal narrow filters. As we survey our relationships with employees, customers friends and relatives it becomes apparent that there are degrees of conflict everywhere. Conflict in beliefs. Conflict in actions and conflict due to unrealized expectations.

It has been said that perceptions become reality in the minds of people. Much of the metaphysical writings of the past 2000 years as well as an increasing body of recent medical and scientific research has shed new light on belief patterns and their consequences on behavior. I am not a mystic nor am I a scientist. But I have observed a great deal of human behavior over the past 30 years and I believe that if we are to live with balance, peace and harmony we must look squarely at how we perceive and interpret life and how we act upon what we see.

Each of us brings unique knowledge and experience to every relationship and situation. We are all right in our own mind. Truth for us is what works for us as we move down the highway of life. Truth is no respecter of opinions, fads, arrogance or ignorance. We do not manipulate truth to fit our own sense of values or beliefs. Truth is. Reality is. Whether we choose to see it or not does not deny its existence.

If an employee believes that they are underpaid. If a customer believes they have been treated poorly. If your spouse believes you don't spend adequate time with them. If your child feels you are being too strict. If a student believes your demands are unrealistic. If a stockholder believes you have acted unwisely. All of these are perceptions in their minds. True or false. Right or wrong. It doesn't matter. If they believe it is true for them.

In my early speaking career I hadn't learned yet that everyone doesn't have to agree with me. It was not my role or responsibility to change their mind. I needed to learn that people will believe what they want to believe that is comfortable for them at their current stage of personal development. We are all on a personal development path. Some of us are further down the path than others. This doesn't make me right or them wrong. They own their own perceptions and beliefs.

I would like you to look at some of people or circumstances that contribute to your stress or frustration in life. What is it about them that triggers your anxiety, fear or whatever emotion you feel when you are with them or experience them? Where do your expectations come from? Why do people disappoint you? Why does life reward or punish you?