Perception...Is it REALITY?

P e r c e p t i o n

perception [pəˈsɛpʃən]  n

1. the act or the effect of perceiving

2. insight or intuition gained by perceiving

3. the ability or capacity to perceive

4. way of perceiving; awareness or consciousness; view

It's raining...it's gonna be a gloomy day.

It's raining...awesome! I don't have to water.

It's raining...people will be driving crazy today!

It's raining...________________ (fill in the blanks)

How do you interpret the events that occur in your life? Your perception is a very powerful tool in determining whether or not you have a good or bad experience, or whether or not a neutral incident totally floors you.

Your perception is your reality, therefore, to you...it IS reality.

Have you ever noticed how different people can experience the exact same event, yet interpret it in entirely different ways? WHERE does YOUR perception come from?

Those inner voices are not easy to distinguish. Sometimes we just accept them as reality, but are they? Is it possible they are someone ELSE'S reality? Someone who raised us or had a large influence over our lives in our formative years or vulnerable moments?

Next time you hear an inner voice trying to interpret an event for you, CHALLENGE IT!!! Is it true? How many ways can a rainy day be interpreted? As many ways as there are PERCEPTIONS of it. Think of the voices in your head. Are they truly yours, or did you just assimilate them? THINK. Be your own best friend/counselor/confidante. Delve into those common interpretations and figure out where they really come from, and then become the author of your new, healthier inner voices. 

GET RID OF STUFF!

Get Rid of Stuff!

How much stuff do you have? How much stuff do you think you need? How much does it cost in time and money to care for the stuff you own? Does your stuff make you happy?

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”   ― Socrates

If you are feeling overwhelmed with life, it may be time to get rid of some stuff. It may be time to decide how much stuff you really need. I’m not talking about living a monastic life. I’ve tried that. I’m talking about simplifying life. Deciding what you really need and living by a personal mission statement.

“It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”  ― Dale Carnegie

After all the kids left home, my husband and I downscaled from a four-bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment. We had a garage sale and got rid of a ton of stuff. Some of the stuff we hadn’t used in years. Some of it was just too bulky to fit into our new home. After a couple of years in this smaller domain and realizing we didn’t need the extra bathroom and bedroom, which were just excuses to accumulate more stuff, we looked for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment.

“We need much less than we think we need.” ― Maya Angelou

Freedom

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”  ― Plato

The time came to scale down even more. Here we thought we had gotten rid of so much stuff, but there was still more we could live without! By eliminating the extra space, we needed less stuff to fill our new space.

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” ― Martha Washington

Now, when I go shopping, I don’t get tempted by stuff I see that I “just gotta have.” I don’t have room for more stuff. I only have room for what I really enjoy. It takes about a half hour to clean the entire place. I have time to do things I love and am not a slave to things I have to do to maintain STUFF.

Simplicity

“Happiness is not a goal...it's a by-product of a life well lived.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

When you lose your focus on stuff, the world opens up to you. You have extra TIME you need to fill. Meditating on what you really want to do with your life is a great exercise. I still haven’t figured it out, but I am FREE to decide and not a slave to the tyranny of STUFF.

 Bliss!