Perception is Reality

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Google 'perception is reality rolling stone'. What comes up is an ad campaign that I studied when I was in college. I was an ad major. This Rolling Stone Magazine ad campaign was the quintessential ad campaign of it's era. You could argue that he Absolut Vodka ads were up there too. Perception is how our minds trick us with persuasiveness. It hit me hard back then. The irony in it. The humor in it. Now, 3 decades later, I see 'perception is reality' and all the nuances that it's trickery has played on me my whole life. Now I can recognize it fast, stop it's devilishness and straighten my thoughts out quickly, but it did not happen overnight. Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. Perception is how we interpret what is going on outside of ourselves. It’s the conclusions we jump to when we try to analyze events, circumstances, and the presentation or behaviour of others. Perception involves processing sensory input from the environment and then assimilating that information with a person’s own expectations, feelings and knowledge. The entire process occurs on a subconscious level without a person even realizing it’s happening. I now can tell when my mind is completely tricking me into thinking something that is not reality or isn't as it appears to be. How many times have you had an opinion of a person, and then someone tells you something that totally changes your world about that person - for good or bad. Do you behave differently because of it towards the person? Or how about your mom or <insert person here> telling you that you shouldn't be wearing what you are wearing to an event or place you are at. Does this make you act differently? Embarrassed? Go Home? My point here is that we let people influence our thoughts and feelings WAY TOO MUCH and then we miss out on things in life. Next time you hear someone trashing someone else because they don't agree with who they are - say something to them - tell them to keep it to themselves. They are basically trying to persuade you to be on their side. Why do we have to choose? What do YOU see? That is what is important.

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