Sunday, December 26, 2010

You can only see through your eyes

I remember years ago a doctor friend telling me how lucky they were and how they had led a charmed life. I knew from a previous conversation they slept with their cell phone because to them an answering service was just an inconvenience since they would end up calling the person back any way. I imagine it was also because of their true care and concern for the patients and wanting to be available any time they were needed. I thought to myself, well, that may be a charmed life to them, but I wouldn’t want to be tied to a phone 24/7.

Here is a classic case of a matter of perception, or seeing things differently depending on who’s looking at it. To them it was just a matter of doing something that went along with their chosen profession, and therefore a part of what they considered their “charmed” life. To me, it would have been a price I was paying, an inconvenience, because, well…I like uninterrupted sleep

You can see by this example, what is stressful or unpleasant to one person is not necessarily the case for another. The same holds true for what we find pleasant or desire and want in our life. We judge good or bad by our own perceptions…what we enjoy, what we find hard or easy, what makes us smile. Because of this one simple fact, what we want to experience, or not experience, is not the same for everyone.

So, the next time you are ready to judge someone else’s decision or actions, remember you can only look at it from your perception, not theirs. If we can concentrate on our own decisions in life and stop worrying about others, we will start creating what it is we want and begin to live from a more peaceful perspective.