Being Point

Tag: perception

  • Is Everything In Life A “Get-To”?

    Some say that almost everything in life is a “get-to” because we have free will. That seems true in the absolute sense of the word. From that perspective, most of our “have-to’s” stem from the choices that we “get-to” make.

    For example, most people “have to” work in order to provide for ourselves and our families at the levels that we choose. But to say that we “have-to” make the lifestyle and spending choices that we make seems inaccurate.  Is it more accurate to say you “have-to” send a child to college or that you “get-to” do that?

    Today, as an experiment, view everything as a “get-to” – as a privilege, a gift, a joy, a supreme opportunity. Please do so not in some “rose-colored-glasses” way of thinking, but as an inquiry into your life experience.

    Is your orientation – your habitual way of living – more “get-to” or “have-to”? Don’t judge it, please. Just observe and let me know what happens. Be mindful of how this perceptual shift impacts your results.

  • “Family Of Choice” ~ Different From ~ “Family By Blood”

    “Family,” of course, means immediate blood relations, but it’s clear that it also means “family of choice.” These are friends we have met through a variety of circumstances with whom we have become exceedingly close and we consider “like family.”

    Back in Ancient Greece, Homer said, “A sympathetic friend can be quite dear as a brother.” No doubt, each of you has encountered people in your life who are as dear as the closest of blood relatives – and, no doubt, those ties are as real as any.

    What is your perception about these special people in your life? Do you recognize those ties as the same as blood relations? If they are different, how are they different? What is required for you to consider someone “as family”? All hyperbole aside, are there differences in your “family of choice” and your “family by blood”?

  • “Always Keep An Open Mind And A Compassionate Heart” ~ Phil Jackson

    How open are you to change, to opportunity, to life?  We humans have sometimes felt as though we’ve known “the answer” – and we’ve perhaps gotten stuck there when our perceptions became rigid.

    Coach Phil Jackson said, “Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.”

    Keeping an open mind is most often simply a matter of practicality because circumstances are always changing, so one’s mind or perceptions often move as well.  And having compassionate hearts assists in keeping our minds open.

    Would you characterize yourself as having an open mind, or are you more rigid in your points of view?  How can we balance being open, yet being decisive when we need to be?

  • Self-Talk Is A Reflection Of Our Perceptions

    How much do you think your inner dialogue has with the results that you produce in life? Have you ever been one of those people who has allowed negative self-talk to run roughshod over your consciousness and become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Or are you a master at only uplifting self-talk as a means of inspiring you to move forward?

    Self-talk matters because it reflects our perceptions. If “perception is reality,” then any perception that you’re a winner or a loser – or anything in between – that somehow gets translated to self-chatter has a tremendous amount of influence over your ultimate experience.

    Among the most powerful things we can do to manage self-talk is to write it down. Take three minutes as an experiment and write down all the positive self-talk and three minutes for all of the negative. This exercise makes your choice making very clear by contrasting what will aid you against what will diminish you. What other ways do you use self-talk?