“Only in quiet waters, things mirror themselves undistorted.  Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.” Hans Margolius, quoted in A Toolbox for Humanity

In the process of discussions with friends and general experiences, I have come to the conclusion that you define your life by your perception of it. In other words, I will react to the world in the way that I see the world and my place in it.For example if I am approached by someone and they appear to be hostile, or at least my perception of the situation tells me that this situation is hostile; long before the first word or gesture with that person  I have braced myself for defense.  Now, should I have misread the situation and my perception of the situation is warped, then I have already made the first error.  Instead of approaching this person with an open mind, to whatever the interchange may bring, I instead adopt a defensive stance and begin to align myself in a defensive position.

Am not talking about war, just the art of communication, with all that is outside of me, the world, people, and surroundings; how I deal with them all is based on how I see them, perceive them!  If I am having personal issues within, that taint my perception, then it’s a wonder that I kick a nearby cat, or side swipe an electric pole as I drive by or generally struggle with human relationships.  It is my psyche telling me and my instinct kicking in and setting up how I react.  Regardless of the truth!

Okay so if I believe that the world owes me, that am entitled as I go through life, and I should be privileged and have favor from the world around me, if that is my perception; I am so great and wonderful, be it my physical attributes, or my sporting prowess or even my intellectual capacity, which I believe to be superior to others, it then it follows that I will deal with the world from that point of view.   The sad reality is that it is all in my head.

Where do these warped perceptions of self come from? I believe it is the sum of upbringing, experience and delusion in some way. Somewhere along the line a person maybe was told they were beautiful, a great athlete and a fantastic worker and a great contribution to mankind.  Maybe at one point that may have had an inkling of them, one that could have been developed with some effort to become a reality, but since some of us have grown up thinking that the world owes us, somewhere we believed the myth so much that we did not see the world around us, and we thought that inkling of truth would remain the reality without any nurturing.  However we know   that a fire no matter how big it is without adding wood and stoking, it will eventually die out.  So some people became complacent and arrogant and started believing our own hype; hence the warped sense of reality.

We all have that something that makes us unique, that thing that we all bring that adds to the overall world, however in matters of everyday living and interactions, humility is important, as one goes through life it is important to understand and appreciate a few hard facts:

1. Yes I am great in my own right and I am an awesome contribution to this world that I live in; however there are others in this world and they too have a lot to offer and at times it might even be better than what I have, ooops reality check!!!
2. I need to respect and appreciate people around me, no matter how mundane they seem, because greatness does not always come in pomp and circumstance, look at Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi?
3. Humility goes along way in enhancing our place in this world in relation to all those other people that we share the planet with. a humble person is easier to dale with.
4. My perception may be my reality, however so is everyone else’s perception their reality.  The key is to balance everyone’s perceptions and realities so as to create harmony
5. Life deals us many blows;  if we spend too much time lamenting about what the world and life owes us, then it slips by and we are left unhappy,  and unfulfilled
6. There is a lot we deserve that we don’t get, suck it up and move on, it’s not yet the end of the world and there is still a lot of living to be done.
7. It is not our lot in life to determine what others deserve or don’t deserve vis a vis what we deserve, we are better served by claiming our favor from the world and moving forward
8. Seek for happiness, not at the expense of others around you, no actually happiness is more complete with it is in tandem with others, the saying “The more the merrier”, really is true.

“What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.” C.S. Lewis