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Perception
When my son Ron was in High School, we witnessed a robbery in the parking lot of Target in Scottsdale. We were only a few feet away parking our car. I was driving when a black Chevy Camaro, driven by a young woman, drove up to an elderly woman pushing her grocery cart. A young man with dark hair bolted from the Chevy and shoved the elderly woman to the ground and took her purse. Quickly getting back into the car on the passenger side they sped away. The elderly woman laid on the ground. There were other witnesses as well who ran to help.
Of course, my son insisted I follow the car. I did. Immediately noticing they had removed the license plate and were driving too fast for me to catch up with them as they weaved around cars speeding in heavy traffic, we lost them.
When we arrived back to the parking lot the police were already there. The woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital and Ron and I talked to the police along with the other witnesses. They talked to each of us separately.
Afterwards, we learned from the police that our perception of the incident; car, driver, and assailant were different. Ron described a blonde, fair skinned young man with a blonde girl driving a gray car. I described the complete opposite, black car, dark skin young man and woman, both with black hair. The police assured us this was not unusual. After talking to other witnesses, the police came up with a clearer description of the identity of the criminals.
According to my research, I learned this about perception: People perceive things differently. We choose to select different aspects of a message to focus our attention based on what interests us, what is familiar to us, or what we consider important. Often, our listening skills could be improved. Listening and thinking are directly related. Reality and fact are tied to perception, and perception is linked to the way an individual’s brain receives information. And it is within visual illusions where we get an idea of just how differently we can perceive the very same thing completely differently.
Why is it good to see things differently? People who can shift their perspectives and look at things from different viewpoints often manage difficulties better, see chances where others see struggle and according to Positive Psychology research might score higher in the strengths category of wisdom than others.
There are 5 types of perception: visual, scent, touch, sound, and taste. We perceive our environment using each of these, often simultaneously. Our perception of our surroundings, reactions, and judgements begins with our personal, internal awareness. Our ‘listening and thinking’ progression in which we are aware of objects and events in the external world is an extension of our self-perception through our senses.
How aware are we of our surroundings? How do we see, smell, touch, hear and taste…. truly capture and perceive our environment. Can we ‘scent’ a rainstorm or heat wave coming our way, without the aid of the weather app. Does an embrace feel welcoming or uncomfortable? Does a sound lift us to a memory of pleasure, and can we taste the sweetness of life without reaching for sugar? Is life happening to us or for us? Perhaps by being present to ourselves in our listening and thinking process we can select the messages we want to focus on and tend to what we want to create in our lives. Thoughts are things. Think wisely.
Love,
Hilda
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