When you see this picture what is the story that you perceive behind it? It is a daughter and her aging mother? Is it a woman battling with growing old? Is it a happy scene or a sad scene? Are they pensive or frustrated? What is the story?
What you have just done is called selective perception.
It is the phenomenon of seeing what you expect to see.
Researchers have discovered that once a person is primed to see something a particular way it is very hard to change that set and see things differently.
Do you know that we actually see with our brain and not with our eyes? The eyes are simply the lens that capture the information but our brain defines it. The brain adds history and associations. Much of what we see and respond to is not what is actually there but our interpretation of stimuli from a set of preconceived ideas. So someone says, No one cares for me, or I am so lonely is not necessarily the real issue but the interpretation of events that would look differently to someone else with a different set of values.
Many of us are tied up in knots because of the way we perceive life, and we feel like there is no way out of this hell of sin, bondage, addictive behaviors, loneliness, fear, anxiety, worry, discontent, and the list goes on. The fact is that all of this is so subjective. Shouldn’t there be some sort of standard?
And is there any hope of a way out of this kind of destructive programming?
Well the answer to both of those questions is yes there is a standard and that standard can be used to counteract the destructive programming that predisposes us to a life of sin and focus on self.
John 8:31-32 (NIV) 31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
In order to change your perspective, you need to change your thinking.
Troublesome thinking begins with input.
Whenever we talk about changing your thinking we ultimately talk about garbage in and garbage out. If you put in worthless, faulty and inaccurate information then you will get worthless, faulty and inaccurate information out. But the mind goes further than that. It takes the faulty information and dwells on it till that piece of information takes on a life of its own and becomes truth to us.
Someone tells you when you were young, "You are stupid!" and what happens? If we don’t take that info out, our minds water, fertilize and nurture that seedling into a forest of negative thoughts and emotions till everything we see is now measured by those perceptions.
What we have to do is root those things out and keep out minds focused on truth. There are three trouble spots that keep us from focusing our minds on good things.
The Media
Television, movies, magazines and music program our minds constantly, determining our thoughts and values. We must guard what we put in if we are to stay oriented to the truth.
People today are insecure about themselves because of what the media tells us is beautiful or successful.
Our Friends
Friends also have a dramatic impact on our values. The Bible tells us that…
1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV) Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Now it may be especially true for teens but it is just as true for the rest of us as well. We tend to become like the people we spend time with.
Our Inner Thoughts
Our inner thoughts can make what we allow into our minds either better or worse. Something bad can come into our minds and we can overcome it be dwelling on the right thoughts or we can make it worse by cultivating that thought. Most times this is where most of us have problems, we let our minds run amok.
We need to be aware of these avenues for helping or hurting ourselves and use them for good.
If we put lustful images into our minds, we will get lustful thoughts out of it.
If we put materialistic thoughts into our minds, we will get materialistic thoughts out of it.
If we put fearful thoughts into our minds, we will get fearful thoughts out of it.
Whether it is revenge, resentment, self-pity, anger, hopelessness – if we put it into our minds that is what we will get back out. We perceive life through those lenses of thought.
How are these three areas influencing your perception of who you are? How guardrails will you put up in order to limit these influencers?
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