You See What You Believe – Perception Is Everything
Your perception of things is everything. How you look at your life determines the way your life will be like.
Your perception, point of view, determines how you think and how you think about things determines what you will come to believe. As you know, your beliefs control your life (mostly subconsciously), therefore changing your perception will allow you to change your beliefs – which in turn will change your life.
This is why I often bring up ideas that allow you to change your perception i.e. “the way you look at things”.
If you see yourself as a victim, unable to change anything about your life, you will disempower yourself and truly be at the mercy of the circumstances around you.
On the other hand, if you see yourself as the creator of your own life, you will have the power to decide how you feel about those circumstances and choose a new approach if you don’t like what you are experiencing.
How To Change Your Perception?
How, then, to change your perception?
It’s not that difficult. In fact, you do it throughout your life. The key is awareness.
Let’s take a look at some examples. Pause for a moment and think about your life when you were a child. It’s easy to see now how little did you know back then, but you thought you knew everything. Do you believe the same things now that you did when you were a child? Of course not.
What changed? Your awareness. You learned new things and more importantly gained new experiences. Based on this new awareness you dropped your old beliefs, because they were no longer serving you.
You probably believed in Santa Claus when you were a child. Your parents told you that Santa brings gifts every Christmas, so of course you believed that.
You saw Santa, or even if you didn’t, you certainly saw the presents he brought. You were aware of this as you saw it with your own eyes and experienced it first hand.
Awareness Shifts Perception
Then you grew up. You started to be aware that there was more going on “behind the scenes”. Like when Santa showed up and your dad just “mysteriously” happened to disappeared at the same time. Or how Santa looked suspiciously like your uncle, only with a beard and a deeper voice.
You became aware that there are billions of people around the world and if Santa were to visit all of them, he would have to travel so fast that his reindeer and sleigh would burn and explode, due to the friction they would experience while travelling at hypersonic speed.
Unless Santa is really a multidimensional being, capable of operating outside the confines of time and space and existing in multiple locations at the same time… (You see how this shifts your perception?)
Naah, that’s probably not the case. But you get the point. It’s the way we look at things that determines what we believe. Once you saw “the bigger picture” you could no longer believe in Santa Claus.
More Awareness Brings More Understanding
Let’s take another example.
We live here on the surface of the earth. It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand what the earth in its entirety looks like. Heck, the earth even looks flat when we stand on the shore of an ocean and stare into the horizon.
Imagine going to space and seeing the earth from above (what even is above in space?).
Viewing the earth from above, seeing that it’s round, how there are no borders between countries, how everything we depend on is connected… It’s impossible to think about the earth the way you used to.
Your perception has changed and with it your understanding of “the bigger picture”. This in turn will determine how you think and what you believe.
If you believed the earth was flat, going to space and seeing the Earth from a new perspective will make it very difficult to hold on to your former belief. (I hold no judgement of what you choose to believe, this is just an example that came to mind).
Many astronauts that have been to space talk about a profound shift in perspective.
Seeing the earth from a distance brings with it a new understanding of its beauty and fragility and how we should do everything we can to preserve our home planet.
New Perception From Growing Old...
Here’s one more example:
When you are old, it’s easy to see the things you should have done, instead of doing the things others told you to do.
As described by Bronnie Ware in “The Top Five Regrets Of The dying”, from that perspective, looking back at your life on your deathbed, it’s so obvious what you should have done to live life to the full.
Just like when you became aware that there is no Santa when you grew older, the older you get the more you will be aware of the things you should have done in order to be happy.
(Allowing yourself to be happier is one of the five regrets, by the way.)
...Or Having A Near Death Experience
Then there are people who have had a near death experience. These are people that have been declared clinically dead, yet they experienced something “in the afterlife” and came back to life. These people will live in a profoundly different way after that, because their perception has shifted massively.
Maybe they understood the temporary nature of physical life and choose from now on to live life fully, or perhaps they had a glimpse of the afterlife, understanding that life will not end but go on forever and ever, thus being able to live without fear.
3 Tips For Changing Your Perception
The good news is, that you don’t need to be on your deathbed or have a near death experience in order to profoundly change how you look at things.
You just need more awareness. Be aware of the causalities in your life. Observe how your thoughts and beliefs shape your life in a very concrete way. Be open to new ideas. Follow your instincts.
Meditate, read books, attend seminars. Expand your awareness and your perception of the world will shift irrevocably.
Let’s dive in to the tools that you can use to shift your perspective:
1. Meditate
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? It’s my go-to solution for everything, I know.
But the reason why I suggest meditation to you all the time is because it’s so effective for clarifying your thoughts and coming into contact with your true self.
In meditation you may get a glimpse of “your true self” and your perception will shift immediately.
I also understand that mediation may be a difficult practice to keep up. I myself struggled for years with meditation, trying to make it a daily habit but only doing it once or twice a month.
What helped me with my meditation practice was listening to guided meditation audios. You can find these in many places (just google “guided meditation”), but here’s my suggestion for you (no affiliation):
Omvana – The Only Meditation App For Performance & Flow States
Tips For Meditation
Pro tip: You can meditate while lying on your back. When you go to bed, lie on your back, put on your headphones and listen to a short guided meditation before you fall asleep. This is a naturally good time to meditate as our brain is going to a relaxed state anyway.
Another good tip for meditation is: Forget about the classic meditation posture, sitting with your legs crossed, hands on your thighs with thumb and index finger touching.
Just sit down where you are comfortable like a couch or a chair and keep your feet on the floor. Put some pillows behind your back for support. Or just lie down.
Lie on your back with feet about shoulder-width apart with hands on your sides and palms facing preferably up. Whatever feels comfortable for you is best.
Or you can do what the philosophers in ancient Greece did: Go out for a walk. A slow walk can be a good form of meditation, allowing you to distance yourself from your thoughts and let them run free. I’ve even used walking as a meditation successfully for manifesting. I’ll write about this more in the near future.
You can incorporate the next tip to your walking meditation practice as well:
2. Train Your Awareness
Every day make it your intention to notice in your life three things you didn’t notice before. It could be something as simple as graffiti on a wall, something new you learn from reading the news etc.
Keep a journal for improved results. Write down three things every day that you didn’t notice before. This will train your awareness.
3. Expand your awareness by trying new things
I bet many of you will like this tip: Travel more. See the world. Get to know different people in different countries.
This will expand your view of the world and increase your awareness by miles. If you can’t travel abroad, travel to a new place in your country, one where you have not been before. Take your awareness journal with you and write down your insights.
You can also expand your awareness by studying. Read new books, watch videos on new subjects, listen to podcasts on topics you would not normally listen to. All the while keeping an open mind.
The point is to expand your awareness. Gather more information. Increase your options. The more material you have from which to choose, the more flexibility you have for changing your beliefs.
If you want a profound shift in perspective, similar to what you can get from going to space, I highly recommend watching anything by Gregg Braden
Or reading anything by Neale Donald Walsch
I have no connection with these authors, but their work has thoroughly changed my perspective so that there’s no going back to my old limiting beliefs.
Conclusion
How you live your life is based on your beliefs.
Your beliefs are based on your thoughts.
Your thoughts are based on your perception.
Your perception, point of view, thus determines everything else in your life.
You will change your perception throughout your life as your awareness grows.
Increase your awareness consciously to change your perception.
You can gain more awareness by:
- Meditating
- Reading
- Studying
- Travelling
- Keeping an awareness journal
Disclaimer
The entire contents of this blog are based upon the opinions of the author. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The information in this blog is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care professional before trying any of the products or methods based on this content. I cannot guarantee that you will be free of stress, anxiety or depression, or that you will be happy. I simply want to share with you what I have discovered during my twenty years of seeking happiness and what has worked for me may not work for you.
