Perception Projection
A man cuts you off on the freeway, you blow up speed up and ride his back bumper. You scream and yell, pass him and flip him off. That man just got the news that his father had a heartattack and was being rushed to the hospital. That man also had yelled at his father for hours the night before. Imagine, it could be the last conversation he ever had with the man that stood by his side for years.
We live by inference. We mind-read. We assume. We know only what we observe. And beneath those observations are the truth and the drivers to how others respond to the environment. We have no idea what is going on in the man mentioned above's life. We have no idea how his morning went. How is day is going. And where he might be headed. Yes, it is so easy to be angry and mad at the fact that he cut you off. And we would all be lying if we said, "I would never cut someone off, no matter how bad my day is going." Don't kid yourself.
Now imagine, the feeling of anger get a picture in your head and look at it one last time. NOW, imagine slowing down, and saying to yourself "Man, that guy must have had a rough day." And you think about the amazing things in your life. You think about how good your day has gone. And you think, about how lucky you are. Instead of being angry you reverse the emotion to one of awareness....self awareness on how you can choose to see the world through different eyes and different choices. And the choice is yours, completely yours. No one can make it for you.
You can still choose to be angry and mad. Or you could choose to be glad that your life is going the way it is going because it is going exactly how you want it to go. And if it is not going the way you want it to go.... then think about what it is that you need to do in order for the day, the week, the month, the year, your life, to go the exact way you want it to go. Because you choose the path you take.
Perception-Projection is an interesting ending to this. Who's to say that thinking that man cutting you off is jerk, is really not your own perception that you yourself are a jerk or were a jerk at some point. Would it be fair to say that in order to know if he was a jerk, you would have to know what a jerk looks like, and that possibly it is the way you have been acting and you see it in yourself through him? And if not, then what if? And if you still cannot wrap your head around it, pretend. And pretend that you were that man. Would you be a jerk?
We live by inference. We mind-read. We assume. We know only what we observe. And beneath those observations are the truth and the drivers to how others respond to the environment. We have no idea what is going on in the man mentioned above's life. We have no idea how his morning went. How is day is going. And where he might be headed. Yes, it is so easy to be angry and mad at the fact that he cut you off. And we would all be lying if we said, "I would never cut someone off, no matter how bad my day is going." Don't kid yourself.
Now imagine, the feeling of anger get a picture in your head and look at it one last time. NOW, imagine slowing down, and saying to yourself "Man, that guy must have had a rough day." And you think about the amazing things in your life. You think about how good your day has gone. And you think, about how lucky you are. Instead of being angry you reverse the emotion to one of awareness....self awareness on how you can choose to see the world through different eyes and different choices. And the choice is yours, completely yours. No one can make it for you.
You can still choose to be angry and mad. Or you could choose to be glad that your life is going the way it is going because it is going exactly how you want it to go. And if it is not going the way you want it to go.... then think about what it is that you need to do in order for the day, the week, the month, the year, your life, to go the exact way you want it to go. Because you choose the path you take.
Perception-Projection is an interesting ending to this. Who's to say that thinking that man cutting you off is jerk, is really not your own perception that you yourself are a jerk or were a jerk at some point. Would it be fair to say that in order to know if he was a jerk, you would have to know what a jerk looks like, and that possibly it is the way you have been acting and you see it in yourself through him? And if not, then what if? And if you still cannot wrap your head around it, pretend. And pretend that you were that man. Would you be a jerk?
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