Perception and Reality

I got to thinking about reality the other day and found it very difficult to quantify what reality really is. Reality is so often based in perception that it's difficult to tell what is real and what is skewed due to our point of view.

Think about it, everything that we experience everyday is subject to interpretaion based upon our points of view. This naturally raises a lot of questions with me in regards to how I react to situations on a daily basis and how I view myself in general. It's far too easy in life to get wrapped up in our own lives thinking that our point of view or perceptions are the only ones that are correct. I find that it's very helpful to be mindful that things often aren't quite what we perceive them to be.

Often I can choose as to how I want to view or react to both positive and negative situations that present themselves. The more that I look at or react to things in a positive way, the happier and more trouble free I find myself. This is a key realization for me, a great deal of being happy in life is taking the time to examine how you look at things. Beforehand I was far too busy wrapped up in my troubles and worries that I lost sight of what it means to truly live. Things finally degenerated to the point where I didn't want to carry on and soon after I was faced with a very important questions: If I were to go foreword, was I going to dedicate myself to being happy or was I just going to continue on with being miserable and feeling sorry for myself?

Fortunatley I made the right choice and I've spent the last 6 months trying to change the way that I see and experience life's challenges and experiences. I choose how I decide to view things, I choose my attitude everyday, I choose to make my own reality based upon a new sense of perception. I'm not going to lie and say that it's easy or that I'm completely successful everyday, I have years and years of bad habits to shake and that just doesn't happen overnight. Things like work, a lack of much of a social life and some lingering self esteem issues often present challenges to me in my journey. The important thing is that I stand in the shower everyday and tell myself that I'm going to be as positive as I can be, not let things bother me and smile as much as possible. I can honestly say that this has helped me immensely and I think the people who I interact with have noticed this change in me. I have to be mindful at all times to keep from slipping into old habits and thought patterns but as long as I remain mindful and open, it really isn't that hard and I am enjoying life as viewed through the new set of reality glasses that I recently put on! As time goes foreword, hopefully I will automatically see things positively without having to be so mindful all the time, that being said, I think that being mindful is a good thing, it gives a clarity to our reality and helps us to gain a greater understanding of life's daily events.