Ep.6/ The Lens of Perception
What are you putting out into the world?🌍
Too often we put out into the world what we perceive we are getting back.
But what if I told you that, that perception is made through the lens 🔍 of your internal world?
If you are feeling anxious, or insecure you can view the world through a lens of being under threat. If you are feeling angry, frustrated, stressed, or overwhelmed then you can view the world through a defensive lens.
For example, think of a time you have felt any of the above emotions and you have walked into the office and a colleague did not acknowledge you/seemed ‘off’ with you. Your internal dialogue snaps to:
👊🏻Threat - ‘What did I do to upset them?’, ‘They do not like me', ‘Here is when I get discovered as fraud’, ‘They think I am not good enough.’
✋🏻Defensive – ‘How dare they ignore me?’, ‘Who do they think they are?’, ‘I am not going to say hello to them if they can not be bothered with me’, ‘I’ll remember that the next time they need my help!’
You may even spend the next few hours, days or weeks ruminating on this. Remember how those thought processes made you feel and how much mental capacity they used.
Now let’s try flipping 🔀 the script.
You have had a lovely weekend, you come into the office refreshed, happy, and content. The same colleague doesn’t acknowledge you/seems ‘off’ and your internal dialogue / thought process is:
👉🏻‘I hope Sarah is OK’, ‘Mike seems stressed this morning maybe I can help lighten his load or grab him a coffee’, ‘Emma doesn’t seem herself; I’ll make sure I check in with her later.’
Their behaviour hasn’t changed but the lens you viewed the situation through has changed.💛
Creating a regular mindfulness practice allows you to cultivate this more stable lens with which to view the world through.
It helps you to see other people as individuals who also face difficulties, of which we are often unaware of. This takes the onus of other people’s actions and behaviours off of us.
It allows us to choose what our reaction to the world around us will be and therefore we can make sure our outward actions are aligned with our authentic self and not a reaction to our perception of the external world.
My parting thought—‘Do cross oceans. Do climb mountains. Offer kindness even if it is just a smile regardless of if you get a smile back in return. Think about the energy you are putting out into the world and ensure it is aligned with who you are.’🙏🏻
