OK, so it wasn’t quite that big of a deal. But I did find the “T” that mysteriously escaped from the word “not” in one of my articles a few months ago. Yep, I found it all right. Right at the end of what was intended to be the word “though”. Of course, that misplacement resulted in a stupid sentence completely void of logic – unless by chance you missed the “t” and read the sentence the way I intended instead of the way I wrote it.
So why am I harping about a stupid “t”. Well because it shows once again that most of the time we see only what we expect to see. I probably proof-read (or think I do anyway) most of my writings at least a dozen times. Sometimes more. There’s no way I should have ever missed that danged “t”. Twelve times mind you! Twelve times my little brain saw only what it expected to see. And missed reality completely.
Law enforcement agencies have a bugger-bear of a problem with this. If there are seven different witnesses to a crime, the police will commonly wind up with seven different versions of what happened. Oh sure, there will hopefully be enough similarities and concurrence of opinion so the foundation facts of the situation will be usable for an apprehension and conviction, however you can bet that a lot of the details will vary. They will vary because of the different genetics and experiences of each of the witnesses. These witnesses will each filter and interpret what they saw through all of their previous experiences and understandably, will arrive at slightly differing pictures of the event.
We only see what we expect to see. This applies to the bigger picture too, doesn’t it? What our days are like. How our lives play out. Whether or not we really accomplish those things that we are capable of doing.
Taking it down to the basics – if we get up in the morning and expect to “see” a yucky day, there’s a close to excellent chance that is what we will experience. If on the other hand, we expect to experience a generally good day, that’s probably the way it will wind up.
If we cruise through life expecting to “see” discomfort, unhappiness, stress and struggles, the odds are that when we arrive at our departure time and do a review of our personal history we will be able to view the video pretty much as we had projected. What a pity.
I don’t know about you, but I expect more out of my days – and my life. I expect to see happiness, productivity, enjoyment of family, friends, nature – and love, lots of love. I expect to see personal fulfillment and satisfaction from doing those things I want to do – and am guided to do. I expect to see lessons learned, a continuing accumulation of knowledge and insight – and an ever closer relationship with my Master Teacher. And because I expect to “see” these things, I’m confident that I will. Life’s like that.
Now if I could just find that missing “R”…
Gene Simmons, through NuPathz.com, provides an easy reading self-help blog, articles, quotations, thoughts and links along with affordable self-help and self improvement books & materials - all designed to help folks find the road to a more enjoyable lifestyle, to pass on some of life’s “secrets for survival” in a chaotic world & offer a few smiles along the way. It's a down-to-earth, simple approach to discovering a better life. You can visit Gene at http://www.nupathz.com/