PERCEPTION
I was recently directed to a post on Tumblr in which I was mentioned. I had never used this website, but there it was. I wonder how many other times this has happened...
We do not see everything that we are. How we perceive ourselves is just a small fraction of the image. A simple example of this? Think of how you perceive me. What is the image conjured in your mind of the person who writes these words? Short hair, long hair, no hair? Messy, neat? Thoughts constantly dark, occasional bouts of depression?
How do you believe people truly perceive you?
We form opinions of others based on our own personal experiences and prejudices. How we dress, how we speak, what we appear to be...
Are you smiling because you are truly happy with your life? Or are you smiling because you know that soon your misery will be over for good? Are you older than you look? Do you wear that Green Day t-shirt because you find it comfortable even though you can’t stand the music? Just because you own just one book on psychology, does that mean that it was only a passing interest?
We often do not even think to ask others perception of us. What if they were to find out that although you love your pet cat you can't stand any other animal? What of they were to find out that the reason your long time girlfriend suddenly broke up with you wasn't because she was the bitch you made her out to be, but because you had been unfaithful?
The smallest things can be interpreted in so many different ways but we stick to our initial perceptions even when we are shown a different interpretation because we are so loathe to believe that we were wrong. We can fool ourselves and we can fool others...and we don’t even have to try.
Priest.
We do not see everything that we are. How we perceive ourselves is just a small fraction of the image. A simple example of this? Think of how you perceive me. What is the image conjured in your mind of the person who writes these words? Short hair, long hair, no hair? Messy, neat? Thoughts constantly dark, occasional bouts of depression?
How do you believe people truly perceive you?
We form opinions of others based on our own personal experiences and prejudices. How we dress, how we speak, what we appear to be...
Are you smiling because you are truly happy with your life? Or are you smiling because you know that soon your misery will be over for good? Are you older than you look? Do you wear that Green Day t-shirt because you find it comfortable even though you can’t stand the music? Just because you own just one book on psychology, does that mean that it was only a passing interest?
We often do not even think to ask others perception of us. What if they were to find out that although you love your pet cat you can't stand any other animal? What of they were to find out that the reason your long time girlfriend suddenly broke up with you wasn't because she was the bitch you made her out to be, but because you had been unfaithful?
The smallest things can be interpreted in so many different ways but we stick to our initial perceptions even when we are shown a different interpretation because we are so loathe to believe that we were wrong. We can fool ourselves and we can fool others...and we don’t even have to try.
Priest.