In this life, PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING! How we choose to look upon things greatly frames our inner most peace, our ability to be happy and to a great extent, our ability to feel love! If you perceive the negative, and act in the negative because of what you 'think' you perceive, then most likely, the outcome you will feel and receive will be a negative one.
To a great extent we create our world in the formation of our perceptions! How we perceive the world shapes our entire life! I can't count the many times I've looked upon something, sure of what I saw or felt, and have been dead WRONG in my perceptions! As I age I am trying to open up my mind to new ways of perceiving everything I encounter. It is NO easy task. The other night I had a great visual lesson taught to me by an open minded soul. It impacted me so much I had to take a picture of it.
Well there you have it! The lesson in a glance. Love or die! You get to choose! It's all in how you look at it.
The other day I had a funny experience. I am a Mormon! I belong to the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. Sometimes. . . I am afraid to tell people that I am, yes, in deed, a Mormon. Not because I am ashamed of my religion, but because I'm afraid I'll be judged on the merits of how some people sum up a Utah Mormon. If you live in Utah, then surely somewhere you know a self sanctified, pin headed, holier than thou, Mormon! Then again, that's just my perception! Ha ha ha ha By the way, I spend a lot of time trying NOT to be one of those! They drive me crazy and they give Mormons a bad name! And sad to say, I think there are a lot of them around. Once again though, I'm trying not to perceive what isn't really there.
Back to my story. I tried to give an individual a helping hand and to make a long story short, the individual didn't want to accept it. I perceived that it was because if he accepted my help, he'd have to say something nice about a Mormon! Accepting my help would shatter his perceptions. (Oh, I'm going straight to hell. I think I'll like it there!) There are times we cling to what we want to perceive because it upholds us in our victimhood! If we choose to stand where we can see the LOVE side of things, it strips us of our picked on position, a position in fact, we often like.
Now I look upon my photo here. And I decided to give my friend the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he just didn't really need my help. I'm standing on the side where I can see LOVE in the world! I am not going to perceive what I am not sure really exists in him. In short I'm going to refer to this photograph often. I want to constantly remind my self to look upon life in LOVE! Because to stand in an obsolete corner and view the alternative is in fact to DIE. I had to stand in a lonely little obsolete corner to see and take a picture of the word DIE! So prophetic! I had to come out into the center of the room where life was taking place to see and record the word LOVE! So symbolic! I am certain that every time we fail to love and to be generous in loving, we corner ourselves and we die a little bit on the inside. You are not going to find a lot of love standing in a corner!
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "People only see what they are prepared to see." These photographs taken from two different positions, opened my eyes!
Dan Millman said, "Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is. . . The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds." Such a powerful statement!
In the realm of photography. My lens in which I look through only allows me to see things a certain way. Each lens I put on my camera is different. And yet even with my wide angle, on or any other lens, I am amazed at how I'll snap a shot and miss the very subject I thought I was capturing. There is so much to see when you are looking through glass! Even in looking through the best lens for the situation I constantly miss things. I love Steven R. Covey's quote! "We must look at the lens through which we see the world, as well as the world we see. After all, the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world." Such a great comparison!
Today, I'd like to go back to the night I took these two photographs that sort of symbolize LIFE. I want to give the man who came to me and pointed out the two perceptions a big hug! I want to really thank him for literally and quite symbolically, showing me where to stand!
Where I stand in this life. . . affects with power, what I perceive and see! A powerful thought I must remember. . . with or without a camera!
