Perception.

Every interaction is an opportunity to see how you perceive yourself and ultimately perceive your reality.

We forget to take every interaction as a serious event to be considered. Serious does not mean without joy. Every interaction is our life. Our life is made up solely of what we come into contact with and how we perceive it. Do we not want to take our lives seriously? Every point of contact is the most important until the next.

As always writing and talking on these topics has the effect on me of taking everything I say very seriously. Am I doing what I’m talking about? My words would feel hollow if I wasn’t attempting to practice what I preach. As everyone does I do still miss so much, but thankfully this approach of sharing is rewarding for me above all else. It keeps me hyper vigilant and it’s usually the inane things, let’s say the mundane that can escape my eagle eyes.

I have an elderly dog named Dolly. Dolly and I have spent 17 years in each others company. I never imagined we would have the pleasure of having so much time together. We pretty much went everywhere together. As she has gotten older this has changed. I feel she is letting me off the hook somewhat, a gradual separation before the big one. She has been very kind to me over the years and this last kindness doesn’t surprise me. She knows me so well and has seen how I can turn away from pain. To reject it as the unwanted gift I felt it was. I was wrong. It’s all a gift. This gift is what we all truly want. To see who we really are. Without these seemingly negative life events then we would be missing so much of ourselves. As I’ve practiced and learned to feel more, I walk tentatively into this new phase with my ever wise companion Dolly.

As an old dog she now requires more attention. A fine balance is needed to keep her well and happy, regardless of the slow fading of her body. In this process of getting to know who I am with an elderly dog I have noticed so much.

What we perceive will become a reality.

That may sound a bold statement and maybe one reserved for some mountain top experience, not in fact observing your dog get old.

I have learned to accept what is happening with my dog but at the same time not place any programmed belief of what is going to happen to her. This has not been easy, but I share this with you now. If you think anything is going to go a particular way then it probably will.

I nearly killed my dog with my thoughts. I started to see her as iller than she actually was and almost ready to die. I even discussed how I’d like it to go down. Guess what? That very night she decided to show me what my thoughts could do. She appeared to start to die. Followed by a visit to the vets the next morning ready to put her to sleep. Only for her to trot in to the vets like nothing had happened. That was over a month ago and nothing serious has happened since. She is on no medication and just left to her own wisdom. Much to the vets confusion. They had so many pills and procedures they wanted to try. No thank you.

I decided to watch what I was thinking and how I perceive everything. What I noticed was miraculous and mundane all at the same time. She hadn’t really changed. I was projecting onto her all the stories I’d heard of old dogs last days and believed that this was our fate too. Not true.

I’m playing with this feeling and it keeps providing me with proof. I have changed my perception and that seems to be all that is required. I know this sounds delusional and yes my dog will die but I would like to use this time wisely and to see what will happen without any projected conclusion.

I recently realised that to call someone delusional is a complement. If the delusion that someone is in has no detrimental effect on them or anyone around them and appears to make their life better then great. Leave them alone.

If the world appears to work on this fundamental premise why not choose a good delusion?

So I choose to be delusional about my dog Dolly and guess what? It’s working.

Please allow me to be delusional and please allow me to allow others to have their delusions too. This is my latest prayer.

I’m sure this topic will be met by many resistant minds. I’ve been a part of that mental resistance movement, still am at times. It can seem noble to point to what appears true, when really we don’t know.

You may wish to argue with me on this subject, but no point as I’m delusional.

I’ve pissed on many peoples parades over the years, only to realise later why. It was because of my own perceived lack of power over my own life. Fear. Fear that if their story were true and the world really did work this way, then I’d have to change. Not something that I wanted to do at the time. I was still trying to change everything outside of me.

This concept is old and tricky to explain, I’m just one of thousands if not millions who has tried to convey it. The world is changing dramatically at the moment. There is more energy available to your thoughts. I believe that if you choose to dwell in dark thoughts then you will produce dark things, visa versa. Hence the game for our minds that we see playing out in front of us.

So how do we change our perception?

Be vigilant, be present and notice what you notice. Watch those thoughts and see how you perceive the world around you. Then see if it proves you right.

Good luck you perception breakers you.

MC