Our View of the World

We each see the world in a different way, our framework is created by our past experiences and that which we expect to see and hear in our daily interactions. My energy follows my thinking, that which I expect to hear and see, I will see and hear.

I want you to visualize the following ‘mountain analogy’ of the world. Imagine that your and three of your friends are at the base of a huge mountain, looking up at the peak. Each of you is at a different point on the base, you are on the south side and the others are on the north and east sides. You all see the SAME mountain, but from a different perspective. All of you see what is in front of you, all of you see the same mountain but you do not see the SAME thing. Each view is as valid as the next, only by listening to each other can we have a better understanding of the whole. Too often we engage in conversation by speaking, then either waiting to speak again or listening for the purpose of proving the other person wrong. What we need to do is listen for the purpose of understanding. Our fragile ego will not collapse under a different opinion, but we can learn to understand differing perspectives and how someone else might have a different view of the world ….even if we do not accept their view.

During every moment of the day, we are bombarded with stimuli. It is virtually impossible to process all of it, so our brain learns to filter. In a perfect world this is a good thing, but in reality the filters we developed could be making us anxious, unhappy or even a little paranoid. In a room full of noisy people, if someone mentions your name, you will hear it….why….because our filter usually allows for personal things to get through, but what are those personal things? If my body image is poor (I’m too fat, too tall, too skinny, too short etc.) I will perceive comments about body image as “directed” toward me. I will hear those comments in a room full of noisy people because it is personal to me. This stimuli will enter my mind and be directed to my emotions, and I will immediately retrieve old unpleasant memories. The noisy gathering of people will begin to seem uncomfortable and oppressive and I will probably want to leave.

My energy follows my thinking…that which i expect to hear/see, i will hear/see.

Understanding our triggers or our sensitive areas is the beginning. Once we know what causes us dis-ease (as in uneasiness) we can begin to uncover the triggers and work through them. We can also learn to direct our mind (and therefore our emotions) to the places that bring joy and peace. It is a long process but so very worth the journey. Breath.