Patterns and themes happen all the time in our worlds. This week, a pattern about perception has been coming up and I wanted to share more with you on this topic.
First, it’s important that you know that perception is one of our higher mental faculties. One of six faculties that separate us from all of the other creatures and critters that roam around.
Our perception of something – whether it’s a person, place, thing, experience or otherwise is picked up through our five senses. This causes a thought, which generates a feeling and action follows. The thoughts that are created are informed by our programming – generationally and environmentally. That’s why two people can look at an issue, event etc and see it two different ways.
Perception is neither good or bad. It simply is. We get to decide if our perception is useful or not. Thankfully, with the help of our imagination (another mental faculty) we can begin to form new perceptions.
A new perception can be used for solving problems and also, to breakthrough plateaus and reach new levels of success. As Wayne Dyer put it “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.
It’s possible that there is something happening in your life or business that could benefit from a new perception. Here are some clues to prompt a closer look:
- I’ve always done it this way
- I never do it that way
- I’ve run out of ideas
- I’ve tried everything
- It can’t be done
If you’re solving a problem or attempting to reach a new level and find yourself thinking thoughts like those, chances are it’s time to create a new vantage point, a new perception.
But how?
One of my favorite methods for changing my perception is to “put on the head of another”. Meaning, to come from the challenge, issue or goal with the thinking of someone else. How might they see it? This could be from a mentor, family member, teacher, coach etc. If they were faced with the same matter, how would they see it? This requires your humility, honesty and courage – as often you will find:
- this is another way
- there are more ideas
- it can be done
This first step is expanding your awareness and changing the prevailing thoughts to those that will promote your progress. Next, you’ll move to execution. You very well may encounter a challenge there and for those moments, I recommend you refer to this post: MINDSET OVER SKILLSET as oftentimes, knowing what to do is simply not enough.
As you move about your life and work over the next several days, I encourage you to exercise this mental faculty. What’s another way of looking? See what you discover!
