The way you view the world can have a drastic impact on how successful you are in this life. Your view of the world is known as your perception and is the culmination of all of your life experiences combined with your reaction to those experiences. Some of the most significant contributors to our life experiences are parents, friends, community, and media. As you let these different contributors into your life, they shape you into the person you are for better or worse. The GOOD news is you have the power to change your perceptions if they are hindering you from achieving the kind of success that your want. Here are some helpful tips to get you started.
1. Understand the Power of Your Perceptions, and the Need for Them to be CORRECT.
Our perceptions have been instilled in us over the course of our lives. They come from experiences, tradition, culture, parents, friends, and media to name a few. All of these forces have come together to shape your perception or paradigm of existence. It is the way that you view the world, and so your perception will determine how you interact with the known universe. And, as we established in the previous article, your perception will determine your reality.
If you perceive money to be the root of all evil, you will constantly see all the ways that money is to blame for problems around the world, and that will become what is real to you. Even though there are literally millions of ways that money is being used for the greater good of humanity around the world, your perception will eliminate them from your view. After all, if you perceive success as being something for the elite, the beautiful, the talented, and you further perceive yourself as none of those things, you will undoubtedly encounter setbacks of the most severe nature.
At this point, one might ask; What is a correct perception? If everyone's perceptions are different, because all persons are unique, then how can one say a perception is correct? Is this not just simply this author's perception of what correct is?
The real test of a perception is if it empowers you to achieve your goals. If you have perceptions in your life that are an impedance to your success in health, wealth, or relationships, then the perception must change. Just because a perception is negative does not mean that it is necessarily wrong.
2. Use the Awesome Power of Introspection
The most significant tool we have in our efforts to alter our perception is the ability, as humans, to question why we do what we do, and why we think what we think. No other creature has the ability to think why they are doing something, they simply do what their natural inclinations are. Yes, other creatures can be trained, but they never see where their training is going. It is all in the present moment. Only humans have the intellectual capacity to understand, or at least begin to unravel why they do what they do. If, of course, they take the time to do so.
So, the biggest thing you can do to change your perception or reality is to first question how you came to perceive your current view of reality. If you think everyone is stupid, how did you come to that conclusion? Was it told to you over and over again by a parent, or did you find affirmation in a peer group that was condescending to others? This is the process you must start. Use your introspective abilities to affect change in your perception to adjust your reality. Imagine if you went from thinking that all people are inept, to thinking that people are unique and have valuable things to contribute to this life. All of a sudden, you would actively pursue finding people to aid in your chosen venture. Your odds of success would greatly improve and your load would be lightened at the same time. This is the power of introspection, and the good news is the power is already yours (sorry for the captain planet cliche).
Correcting one's perceptions through the power of introspection is critical in any endeavor. Your perceptions of health, wealth, and relationships all come into play as you try to improve your life. Your only choice, if you wish to continue to develop, is to accept that your perceptions will always be tweaked by experience. As one learned individual said, "The wiser I become, the less I actually know."
Success,in ANY area of life, can be yours if you answer a very simple question. Do you want more out of this life than you have right now?
