It dawned on me recently, after observing two sets of friends who are going through similar life situations, that how we perceive a life situation directly correlates with how we experience it.
It made me see our reality as an equation of sorts: life + perception (input) = life experience (output).
On both sides of the equation, life is the constant; it’s always happening and unfolding in front of us, but our perception (or input) directly correlates with how we experience it (the output).
For instance, when we think about our bodies and how they perform, if we choose poor inputs, lack of sleep, poor food choices, and lack of movement, we will not perform to the best of our abilities.
What if the mind were no different?
What if the quality of our thoughts directly dictates how we perceive and experience life itself?
Because, a bit like when a child falls over, they look to us, and our response teaches them how strongly they should react. It’s the same with the quality of our thoughts. If we tell ourselves a situation is awful, then it becomes awful. However, if we perceive the situation from a different vantage point, a learning, an experience, a lesson, then while the event itself remains the same, the experience becomes completely different.
But how do we see it from a different vantage point when all we can see is our present lens? And how can we even be sure that another option or viewpoint even exists?
Enter the Mind Movie Theatre
Well, I like to think of our minds a bit like entering a movie theatre.
I imagine that there are multiple movies playing at once, and it’s up to us to choose which screening we want to attend. We could automatically go to screen one and watch the horror movie, again and again. Because, well, we always go there. We choose the horror movie on autopilot. We always go to screen one. It’s our default. But if we’re honest with ourselves, do we even like that movie very much? Or do we just continue to watch it out of habit?
What if we were to try a different movie instead? Perhaps a comedy or a sci-fi? If we took ourselves across the hall and tried a different screening, how would that change our perception? Would we enjoy it more? Might we learn something new? Maybe we’ll meet new characters, or have a completely different experience altogether? Not good, not bad, just different.
The quality of our inputs directly correlates with our experience.
If life were like this, and all movie choices were always playing, and it was down to our choice and free will alone, would we decide to choose differently?
Because often, when we come across people who have been watching a more joyous comedy rather than a horror movie, rather than leaning in with curiosity and trying to understand how they got tickets to the comedy screening, our automatic habit can be to find it confronting and uncomfortable. We may even try to shut down the idea that their movie exists at all, that only our horror movie is real, because if something else exists, then what have we been watching for all these years? We can find ourselves frustrated or annoyed when they exhibit, through their very being, that another movie choice is even possible.
But rather than looking away with discomfort, what if we leaned in with curiosity? Rather than feeling triggered or upset that we are not living the same reality, can we instead be curious as to how their reality, while on the surface may look similar, is experienced so differently?
Because it’s not the life situation that changes; it’s our state of being. The state in which we experience the world impacts how we perceive it and, therefore, what comes our way and what we magnetise towards us.
If the quality of our thoughts comes from a place of love, curiosity, joy, fun, and fulfillment, then that is what we will experience. If our thoughts operate from a place of fear, shame, guilt, and anger, then that is also what we will experience.
If all possibilities exist at once and every movie is playing, is it up to us, the viewer which one we choose to watch?
Self-reflection is key
The next time you find yourself watching a horror movie, can you ask yourself, is this a movie I actually want to watch? And if so, why? Does some part of me feel that I must suffer in order to be worthy? Is there a part of me that believes that if life’s not hard, then I don’t deserve it? And where are we holding ourselves out of fear? Fear of what we would learn, fear of what we could achieve, fear of our potential if we consciously chose another movie?
Is it that we’re scared of changing the movie, or is it that if we did, we’d feel lighter and have more space and clarity, and that is indeed what terrifies us most?
The quality of our thoughts directly correlates with how we experience an event. The same thing can happen to two people, but how we perceive and process it is ultimately the life we experience.
If there were always another movie option available, do you trust yourself enough to try a different one?
If this resonated and you’d like to explore it further, here are the ways you can hear more from me or explore working together:
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- Enquire about speaking/workshops
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