Have you ever heard the saying \u201cYou\u2019ll see it when you believe it?\u201d and wondered what that means?<\/p>\n
Well, it\u2019s tied into the concept that perception is reality. That what you perceive about a situation is what\u2019s real to you about that situation.<\/p>\n
If you hold a certain set of beliefs, what you \u201csee\u201d in the world will \u2013 by and large \u2013 prove your beliefs.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s interesting about this concept is that 2 people can be a part of the VERY same event and yet have TOTALLY different experiences of what occurred.<\/p>\n
Why is that? Because perception is reality. How you perceive the world is what becomes real for you. If you\u2019re looking for great people and easy days, that\u2019s what you\u2019ll find. If you\u2019re looking for the world to be full of demanding, selfish jerks, THAT\u2019S what you\u2019ll find.<\/p>\n
Case in Point: I was recently at a dance competition with my kids.<\/p>\n
For weeks building up to the competition, I\u2019d overheard conversations at the studio about how awful the other competing teams were \u2013 not in terms of performance, but in terms of attitude and interaction. Words like \u201ccatty,\u201d \u201cspiteful,\u201d \u201cmean-spirited\u201d were tossed about and moms and kids both agreed: Competitors were nasty.<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to this competition: I overheard moms talking about \u201cour\u201d dressing room being overtaken by another dance team who had no compunction what-so-ever about shoving our girls\u2019 things aside, and laying out their own. It was an invasion and rude.<\/p>\n
I have raised my kids to be self-sufficient;\u00a0 I\u2019m around if they need me, but I prefer to give them enough space to figure things out on their own, to meet the world \u2013 their world \u2013 on their own terms. If they run into a challenge that they need help navigating, they only have to reach out \u2013 I\u2019ll be right there. But I\u2019m going to let them spread their wings and try it on their own first.<\/p>\n
I wondered, as I overheard the \u201cinvasion\u201d conversation, whether my kids were OK in all of this, but I figured that if they weren\u2019t, they\u2019d come find me and ask for my help.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
I saw my kids frequently throughout the day and they never mentioned a thing to me. I figured they\u2019d figured it out for themselves, whatever IT was.<\/p>\n
Curious, though, as we were driving home after the very long day, I asked them about it and about what their experience was.<\/p>\n
This is what my daughter told me:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cEveryone is very nice and very professional. Girls from other teams came up to me all day long and told me they liked what I did and I told other girls the same things and they were happy. When that other team came into our dressing room \u2013 the thing was, they had to go on stage and they didn\u2019t have any place else to change and do their makeup \u2013 all the other dressing rooms were packed. They were all nice and they were very respectful and they were very careful moving stuff out of the way \u2013 but there was a lot of stuff and some things got misplaced, but not lost. We found everything. It wasn\u2019t a big deal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
And from my son:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Men\u2019s Dressing Room doesn\u2019t have any drama at all. We all encourage each other, wish each other luck if we\u2019re going on, and congratulate each other if we just got off stage. \u00a0 We talk about our dance equipment (tap shoes, in this case) \u2026it\u2019s all good. I don\u2019t have any trouble at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Keep in mind, my son is the only boy on our dance team so the other occupants in the Men\u2019s Dressing Room are ALL from other teams.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n
I can never know for sure, but I am guessing that it has to do with how my kids have been raised to think about the world in which they live.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not better than any other kid, but they have a different outlook. My kids have been raised with parents who believe that the world is full of opportunities, that the world is predominantly full of wonderful people and that each day will be great if you let it.<\/p>\n
My kid are homeschooled so they don\u2019t have to deal with peer pressure, they\u2019re not being raised by \u201csociety\u201d or the school system (or worse\u2026other kids!) and we don\u2019t watch commercial television so they\u2019re not bombarded by CNN (constantly negative news) or the other negative drama that the networks sell.<\/p>\n
They ARE aware of what goes on around them, and of what goes on in the world, but they participate in the world in a different way than many. They\u2019re NOT VICTIMS.<\/p>\n
Things in life don\u2019t happen TO my kids, they happen FOR my kids.<\/h2>\n
Big Difference.<\/p>\n
Think about what YOU think about things. Is your world generally a good place? Or is your world a dangerous place?<\/p>\n
When you start to change what you THINK about the world, the world you see will start to look differently to you.<\/p>\n
How do you change the way you think about something?\u00a0 I\u2019d start by taking a look at how the people you spend most of your time with think about things.\u00a0 Are they mostly positive or are they mostly negative?<\/p>\n
You become the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with\u2026in EVERY way\u2026mentally, spiritually, financially\u2026even physically.<\/p>\n
If you want to live in a scary, dangerous world, hang out with people who believe that they live in a scary dangerous world.<\/p>\n
If you want to live in a world full of opportunity and possibility, hang out with people who believe that THEY live in a world full of opportunity and possibility.<\/p>\n
If you want to effect change in your life, hang out with people who believe that change is possible.<\/p>\n
Most people would like to have greater freedom.\u00a0 Time freedom, financial freedom\u2026all kinds of freedom.\u00a0 BUT\u2026a lot of people have the same twisted concepts regarding financial freedom.\u00a0 They don\u2019t believe it exists.\u00a0 Or if it exists, it doesn\u2019t exist for them.<\/p>\n
Their perception is their reality.<\/p>\n