Your Perception is "Your" Reality..

   I recently started following a blog called Deliberate Receiving. The woman who writes this blog is very insightful, and I relate to a lot of her blog posts. I think it's fair to say I relate to a lot of people who feel the same about the Law of Attraction, manifesting, and the like. Below is a photo I borrowed from her page. I think it does a great job illustrating how we perceive things the way we do; at least by the theory of creating our reality based off our perception anyway.


FLETCHER on OCTOBER 3, 2014


     Perception is a funny thing because we all have an idea of how we look at things. Each of us believe we know what is really going on. To some extent; we do. We take the information we are given, and extend our thoughts out there to make up what we "see". 

     According to Kendra Cherry Psychology Expert, "Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it allows us to act within our environment."

     She goes on to discuss how there are stages to how we perceive our environment. The first being our 5 senses, and how they play a huge role in the perception process. An example would be a carnival. Let's say you arrive at a carnival, and you hear kids laughing and playing. You can smell the funnel cakes, you see the bright lights on the rides, you get to pet the animals at the petting zoo. You get the idea. You are perceiving things with your 5 senses. The next stage she talks about is the attended- stimulus. This is where we see that the line for a specific ride has shortened, and we take notice of it. Once we notice it, our brain begins to interpret the image. This stage is known as sensory transduction. Following this stage of perceiving, we then undergo what is called neural processing. This is where "a series of interconnect neurons located throughout the body, electrical signals are propagated from the receptors cells to the brain," according to Cherry. This stage is necessary in order for the following to occur. Where we now have the ability to become consciously aware of what it is we are actually seeing. It is very important because perception doesn't just allow us to be completely aware of what we are seeing, it is pertinent for our brain to give meaning to what it is we are seeing. Which is known as recognition. Finally, we are able to take action to what is we are seeing. For example, we could decide to stand in the shorter line at the carnival, walk away, etc. 

       Now that we have discussed the technical process of what it is to perceive; let's discuss briefly how "our" perception creates "our" reality. A great quote to illustrate where I am going with this is, "You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you." --- James Allen

     As I have discussed previously in earlier blogs, we create our reality by our thoughts. Our mind is like a film projector and our eyes the lens in which we propel the images out into the world. Because of this; we are a product of our thoughts. If we think small, we achieve small. If we think big, we achieve big. And although we find this to be true; we still find ourselves going in opposite directions of what we want. Why? It is learned behavior, and until we understand this... we will continue on the path of much resistance.




Sources:

http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/perceptproc.htm#step-heading

    

You say Tomato; I say Paradigm...

           I once heard a story from a man about an encounter he experienced on a subway one day. He said that another man boarded the subway, came on with his children, and he sat down. The children were running up and down the isle being absolutely loud and inconsiderate of the others riding. He thought to himself "Wow! He really needs to control his children. He's not even paying attention to them." Well after a short time he decided he was going to say something to the man about his children's behavior. Finally, he looks up and says "excuse me Sir, but your children are disturbing me and the others. Do you think you could get them to stop?" The man looks up and says, "Gee, I guess you're right I should probably say something, but we have been at the hospital all day, and their Mother died about an hour ago, and I don't think they know how to take it."

     WOW!!  Of course you can imagine how awful that man felt for what he had said. In that instant of learning why the man was not scolding his children; there was a shift in his paradigm. I am certain we have all experienced something very similar. We thought things about others only to discover that we really had no right to. And in learning what really was; instead of how WE saw it, our thoughts about the situation changed immediately. That is a paradigm shift. By definition:  it's a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions.  We assume we know what is really going on around us, and perhaps there is some truth to what we "know", but it's always our perception, and sometimes, our perception is very far off. 

     I think the story above illustrates an excellent example of how it is so easy for us to assume we know what is "right". When in fact, it is our perception based off our experiences in life. It really is relative. You can take two people who were raised in the same home with the same experiences, same fairness, and see them later in life living totally different lives from one another. I'll use my brother and I for an example. We grew up exactly the same, but despite what we went through as children we look at life completely different from one another. We perceive things based on how we looked at the situations we grew up with.

    I have gone through many many things through out my life. Things a normal thirty year old should not have, and I am still very young, but people ask me all the time, "how do you do it, I could never do what you do especially without my family in the same state?" I reply the same thing every time... "Just because you can handle something; doesn't mean I can. And just because I can handle something; doesn't mean you can." I do it because I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now. Otherwise, I'd be somewhere else. And I think that goes for everyone. :)
   

Sometimes; life really does get in the way.

    Lately I have been putting off till tomorrow what should be done today, and I know that it is really bad. It not only affects me on an emotional level, but it affects me on a physical level as well. It causes reactions to my actions or (lack of) actions. But I don't do it on purpose. It is one of the worst habits I have about me. PROCRASTINATION!! However, I truly think that sometimes life really does just get in the way, and procrastination is inevitable. 

      There are so many people and situations pulling us from left to right, and here and there. It's no wonder why we forget important things. Especially for me, being a single parent, working part time, and going to school full time I am hardly left for "me" time. Funny, because I do so much better when I allow myself to have that time, but the day ends before I know it, and it's already the next one.

      I think we can all relate that life just causes us to be put in situations that are not always favorable. Because of these inconveniences we really have to assess what is the most important, and prioritize accordingly. We need to develop habits that allow us to be effective, and not defective. You may be asking, "How do I develop effective habits?" Well, we must live by principles. Principles are the natural laws of the universe, and they also coincide with the law of attraction. By true definition: a principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. Whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, we must live by principles. For they are the foundation of living a good life.