Ok, so nodded off last night before I got a chance to make a post. So I’m doing this one right after my jog while I have plenty of energy built up. Today’s blog will be about perception.
I’ve been reading up on having a stoic viewpoint. And that is while you can’t control events outside yourself, you can control how you react to them. It’s completely up to you.
Here’s an example. Over the past few days here in Madison it’s been very rainy with thunder and lightening. I happen to love the sound of thunder so it’s been a cool couple of days for me. However, if I had planned on a picnic in these past few days then my perception changes. All of the sudden the rain becomes a bad thing. But in both cases it’s the exact same weather.
How I view it is completely up to me. So the question becomes why would I want to view things in the negative? There’s no real benefit to me being negative. And your body doesn’t know the difference between real danger (I’m being chased by a lion) and imagined trauma (my perception that my life has been ruined by this rain delay). So by dwelling in the negative you’re keeping your body in stress all the time.
Better to try and find the silver lining in things. You could dwell on how the rain has ruined your plans, or maybe you spend your time thinking how much greener the grass will be when you get on your picnic thanks to the rain. You could dwell on how you’re not happy at work and how much you hate your job. Or you could look at it as an opportunity to sharpen up the old resume and maybe learn a new skill or two.
In each case when a situation happens where you could, or possibly do, view it as a negative just stop, take a breath, and think to yourself if you had to name a positive in all this what would it be. Doing this over time will just naturally lead to you being more positive automatically. Certainly a much healthier outlook on life.
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