We Become the Stories We Tell and those we consume. So, it makes sense that the world mirrors our perceptions and our perceptions mirror the world. What we focus on we see and this becomes our world view and then impacts our feelings. The beauty is we have agency each day to choose a new story: what do we see when we look at that pond? Are we focusing only on that mud and debris or also on the beauty of the sky reflected within? As we focus on the world: are we seeing the challenges AND the beauty in our fellow human beings? How might we look at the other and see ourselves? I find what helps me do this: is to imagine that person as a child, their innocence, their vulnerability. And then in seeming them as a child to also see them as not so different from me. Example, someone who's belierfs are far different from mine, if I think of them as an innocent and vulnerable child, I can dig under that belief to a value they hold, maybe it is security. When I think of that value, I see my own value reflected too. They become the same as me, so there is nothing strange or foreign, we are one. For "there but for the Grace of God go I" I think of how at any moment any of us can be in challenging situations: how can we see each other with compassion? Ourselves with compassion too? <3
On Sep 23, 2018 Kristin Pedemonti wrote :
We Become the Stories We Tell and those we consume. So, it makes sense that the world mirrors our perceptions and our perceptions mirror the world. What we focus on we see and this becomes our world view and then impacts our feelings. The beauty is we have agency each day to choose a new story: what do we see when we look at that pond? Are we focusing only on that mud and debris or also on the beauty of the sky reflected within? As we focus on the world: are we seeing the challenges AND the beauty in our fellow human beings? How might we look at the other and see ourselves? I find what helps me do this: is to imagine that person as a child, their innocence, their vulnerability. And then in seeming them as a child to also see them as not so different from me. Example, someone who's belierfs are far different from mine, if I think of them as an innocent and vulnerable child, I can dig under that belief to a value they hold, maybe it is security. When I think of that value, I see my own value reflected too. They become the same as me, so there is nothing strange or foreign, we are one. For "there but for the Grace of God go I" I think of how at any moment any of us can be in challenging situations: how can we see each other with compassion? Ourselves with compassion too? <3