Interesting article on perceptions
Another word for perceptions is paradigm. A paradigm is the way you see someting, your point of view, frame of reference, or belief. Our paradigms are way out of mark, and, as a result, they create limitations. They are inaccurate or incomplete even though the person is convinced that it is true. For instance you may be convinced that you cannot get along with your friend. If that is your paradigm, are you likely to ever get along? Probably not, because the belief will hold you back. Paradigma are like glasses. When you have incomplete paradigms about yourself or life in general, its like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription.That lens affects how you see everything else. As a result, what you see is what you get.
A teen named Kristi once shared with me how much she loved hte beauty of the mountains. One day she went to visit her eye doctor and, to her surprise, discovered that her eyesight was worse than she had thought. After putting in her new contacts, she was astonished at how well she could see. As she put it, ” I realized that the mountains and trees and even the signs on the road have more detail than I had ever imagined. It was the strangest thing. I didnt know how bad my eyes were until I experienced how good they could be.” That’s often the way it is. We dont know how much we are missing because we have messed up paradigms.
We have paradigms not only about ourselves but also about other people. And they can be way out of whack too. Seeing things from a different point of view can help us understand why other people act the way they do. Our paradigms are often incomplete, inaccurate, or completely messed up. Therefore we shouldnt be so quick to judge, label, or form rigid opinions of others, or ourselves for that matter. From our limited point of view, we seldom see the whole picture, or have all the facts.. We should open our minds and hearts to new informations, ideas, and points of view, and be willing to change our paradigms when it becomes that they are wrong. It is obvious that if we want to make big changes in our lives, the key is to change our paradigms. If you look closely, you’ll find that most of our problems are the result of a messed up paradigm or two. For eg. if you have a poor relationship with your best friend, its likely that both of you have a warped paradigm of each other. Both of your paradigms are probably incomplete and are holding you back from real communication.
