Perception Creates Our Reality

This talk is my understanding, at this point, as to how our perception can shape and create our reality. You'll understand how this can impact how you see yourself, others, and your experiences in life. I discuss conditioned perceptions within the collective to empower you to choose how you want to perceive them for your greater good. I infuse my own life experiences into this conversation, as I can only truly speak to my experience with any sense of authority. I hope you enjoy it.

Transcript

Welcome,

Friends.

A message that has been coming through a lot ever since I really started diving into channeling last year has been all about perception.

Specifically,

How we perceive challenging situations or hardships.

That's been coming through a lot.

And so I've been sitting with this idea of perception and realizing how our perception can greatly influence,

If not create,

Our reality.

And what I mean by perception is how we perceive ourselves,

How we perceive other people and their actions or inactions,

How we perceive our situations and the stories that we create around all of this.

How we perceive them to be directly impacts our experience of them.

For example,

Let's say someone doesn't text you back and in your mind you perceive it that you did something and they're angry at you and the friendship is over.

Whereas on their end,

Maybe they were really busy and they didn't see the text.

If you could perceive it through that lens that maybe they just didn't see the text,

They'll respond when they see it.

It's a very different experience than perceiving it as you did something and the friendship is over.

So along these lines,

If we perceive a situation to be challenging,

It's going to be challenging.

If we perceive it as,

Say,

An opportunity to learn and grow,

It still may feel really hard and challenging,

But our experience of it will be very,

Very,

Very different.

So today we're going to explore how we can maybe consider beginning to shift our perception when we feel like things are going wrong in our lives.

When something goes wrong in our life,

It often means,

Not always,

But it often means that it's not going the way we intended it to go.

Right there implies that there is an inherent right way or ways for it to go.

If there are right ways,

Then everything else has to be wrong,

Right?

So when it doesn't go one of the right ways,

We perceive it as things going wrong.

Now,

I don't know about you,

But things don't usually go according to plan in my life.

It's also one of the reasons why I'm not trying to plan my life so much.

So as I've been sitting with this and thinking about it,

It got me wondering if our perception then creates our reality.

Can we shift the way we perceive something?

And if so,

Can that shift impact our lives and our overall well-being for our greater good?

Now,

We just briefly talked about the situation with not getting a text back from a friend.

On a grander scale,

Do you know anyone or maybe you personally that something maybe happened in your life?

You lost a job,

You didn't get the promotion,

Your partner left you,

Something that in the collective is perceived as not going the quote unquote right way.

However,

In time,

You realize that,

Wow,

That was the best thing that could have happened.

Now,

I don't want to speak for everyone when I say this because I don't think every single person will resonate with this.

But I do know a lot of people in which it does and at least speaking personally because I can only truly speak for myself,

That when I look back at the events in my life that I used to think,

Why is this happening to me?

These situations that felt very,

Very,

Very hard and honestly insurmountable at times.

I look back and I am incredibly grateful for it all now.

Now,

I'm not denying that it wasn't challenging at the time.

But looking back,

I can perceive it as making so much sense for my personal journey.

And I say my own personal journey because each of us is on a journey that is unique to each and every one of us.

And there's truly a special power in honoring that and not comparing it to others.

Now,

At this point in my journey,

I do believe that how we perceive ourselves,

Other situations in our life impacts our experience and thus shapes our reality.

And my intention here is to create space to perhaps expand your mindset into one of openness and trust,

Especially when it is perceived that things are maybe not going in the direction that you want them to go in.

Friends,

We have the power to choose how we perceive things in life.

Now,

I will say for many people struggling with mental health and imbalanced nervous systems,

It certainly does not feel like a choice.

And I see this every day working as an eating disorder dietician.

So I truly want to recognize this because on my journey,

If someone said this to me at different points in my life,

I would have probably gotten angry or shut down.

So I want to honor and recognize these different journeys.

And I also believe that there's a lot of power in planting seeds.

So if you are on the struggle bus,

Can you hold space any amount for the possibility that this could,

Maybe if it resonates at any level,

Be your truth at some point that you can feel empowered enough to choose how you want to perceive a situation,

Another person,

Or yourself.

And please remember that your journey will likely look very different from everyone else's.

Again,

This is the point.

We are all so unique with very unique circumstances to navigate.

And this is such a great way to shift out of comparing yourself to others.

It's all interconnected,

Friends.

My personal belief is that there is no one way to do this work.

And as the saying goes,

There are many paths up the mountain.

And when I look back at my life,

As I said earlier,

I'm just so very grateful for everything that I've gone through because it made me who I am.

Or rather,

It's helping me to realize or remember who I am.

And please know that it took a lot of work to get here.

And just like everyone,

I'm still very much a work in progress.

And I've wondered what my experiences would have looked like if maybe I'd gone through them with this sense of empowerment in my choice of how I want to perceive it to be.

Please don't mistake me because I am not a fan of regrets or playing the what if game.

I'm just saying this as an invitation to myself,

A work in progress,

And all of you listening to just imagine what your life could be moving forward if you were able to shift your perception when things feel like they're going wrong.

And how might that impact your overall experience in life?

And fun fact,

Friends,

As I've been trying to implement this perceptual shift into my life more consciously,

I've had a number of opportunities to help me with this effort.

It has not been easy or quote unquote perfect,

But it has been incredibly helpful for my overall well-being on a physiological,

Psychological,

And spiritual level.

And this,

Friends,

Is why I feel so called to share it with you.

Now I know on my journey,

A lot of these ideas and concepts I intellectualize for a long time,

And it's not until I really begin to embody it personally that it begins to click.

So if this is resonating and you're comfortable,

I do invite you to try this following thought experiment to help shift from intellectualizing this concept into embodying it.

I invite you to find a comfortable posture for your body in this moment.

Now imagine or recall the feeling that you get when something goes wrong.

Maybe you remember a time that something went wrong.

And if so,

I do suggest choosing something that doesn't have a lot of charge to it so you can be really present to it through the lens of the observer.

As you connect to it,

Imagine perceiving it,

Perceiving this experience with a sense of openness and trust — any amount.

And as you do this,

Recognize all the feelings,

The emotions,

The sensations arising with that same sense of openness,

Not trying to judge it,

Not trying to change it,

Just simply allowing it to be as it is.

And as you do this,

Can you also hold space and compassion for yourself in recognizing that,

Yeah,

That happened or this is happening and it sucks.

Holding compassion for that while reminding yourself that it's also not clear why this is happening.

And I'm going to move into a place of openness and trust that at the very least I might learn something or grow in some way.

Allowing for any amount of growth,

Whether it's a quarter percent or a hundred percent,

Knowing that the more you practice this,

The more it can become your truth if it resonates.

Gently letting go of the thought experiment and taking a few breath cycles to check in with yourself.

Notice how it's landing for you.

Also knowing it's okay if it's not landing.

This does not have to resonate for you at all.

Again,

Just building an awareness of what resonates for you and what doesn't resonate for you at this point in your journey.

And fully letting go of the practice as we continue on our journey of exploring our relationship with perception.

So as I started sitting with the idea that our perception impacts our experience and can shape our reality,

I also started thinking,

Why is it that we label things as bad or wrong?

Why is this bad and that's good?

Because when we label things as good,

Bad,

Right,

Wrong,

It immediately infuses it with a particular charge.

And since we collectively agree that certain things are wrong or bad,

We are conditioned to perceive it that way.

We can't just arbitrarily label something that this is always good and that is always bad.

Especially when we agree to it as a collective because,

Again,

It takes away our empowerment for us to perceive it in a way that makes sense for us and our lived experience at this point in our journey.

Now as you explore your own perceptions,

For example,

About yourself,

Question,

Why am I believing this to be true about myself?

Was I programmed to believe this?

Was I conditioned to believe this?

Where is that information coming from?

There's a certain empowerment of really asking yourself,

Do I believe this to be true?

Is this my truth?

And let's look at the fear that we might have around certain events,

Right,

That may or may not happen in our life.

When we perceive it collectively as that event is bad or that it means that life isn't going your way,

It generates a lot of fear in our society.

Even within this collective consciousness,

The thing to remember is that everyone is going to see it,

Interpret it,

And perceive it through their own particular lens.

The idea here is to really explore,

Unpack,

And unearth where those beliefs for yourself stem from.

So much of this work is breaking out of this societal,

Familial,

Cultural,

Religious programming and conditioning.

And so much of it is intergenerational,

Which is why so many things just kind of become the norm in our society.

But we're programmed and conditioned in so many ways and so many levels as to how we should think,

Feel,

And be,

And how we should think,

Feel,

And be in certain situations.

Shifting the perception,

As we've been discussing,

Can free you to experience life as it comes,

Hopefully without or with less fear and more openness and trust,

Returning to that childlike innocence of wonder and excitement.

Please also know that this is just my perception at this point in time.

Don't feel like you have to take it as gospel,

Right?

That would just be another person conditioning you.

Let this all sink in,

Let it simmer,

Let it digest,

And notice what feels aligned for you and what doesn't feel aligned for you.

And as always,

Follow your own path.

And an opportunity to follow your own path is whether or not you want to do another thought experiment with me to help shift your mindset into choosing how you want to perceive life to be.

So if not,

I thank you so much for listening.

And if you would like to continue on,

Once again find a comfortable posture for your body in this moment,

Knowing that it may be different from the one before.

And settling into your posture of choice,

Once again think about the last time that something went wrong in your life.

Again,

Something that doesn't have a lot of charge to it,

So that you can truly be present in the eyes of the observer or the witness.

Now think about this moment of things going wrong in the context of the entire experience.

And now see this moment of things going wrong in the context of the experience,

Within the context of the bigger picture that is your entire life.

And as you look back on it,

As you notice it through the observer or the witness,

Did anything come from that thing,

Quote unquote,

Going wrong?

Maybe it did,

Maybe it didn't.

There's no need to find an answer here,

Friends.

Just noticing.

And letting the thought experiment go and just noticing whatever is present for you.

Also knowing that it's okay if you didn't think of anything.

If nothing came up,

Just know that asking the question and looking back with the intention of seeing it with a different perception might help to shift your mindset in time.

Remember that this may or may not resonate.

Try to tap into that inner awareness,

That inner wisdom to truly understand what makes sense for you and your greater good at this point in your journey.

And until next time,

Friends,

Stay curious.

.

Reviews

This came at the perfect time! So needed right now. This is a glorious discussion and exercises. Blair. Thank you. <3