This is something Dr. Phil would always say on his show and I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant.

Thing about getting older though is that you have a chance to see perceptions change.

What was acceptable at one time can change over the ages and I guess I was a weird kid because I used to wonder about that even in my teens.

I guess it comes from being marginalized, living in a culture that isn’t approved of by the majority.

I was constantly bombarded with mainstream perceptions and while I agreed with many of their conclusions I didn’t agree with them all. I experienced them through media all the time. I could understand why the mainstream culture thought and felt the way they did. And then when I went home it was a different paradigm, with a different set of rules and they made sense too within their context.

This is what it is to live in a marginalized society and in a way we’re all marginalized.

But really we’re like the blind men, touching different parts of the elephant. We can only perceive the reality of our limited experience. And when you understand everyone is in the same boat, it makes it easier to be tolerant.

Or…it’s like thinking of the visible spectrum of light being the only forms of light that actually exist. Not taking into account that it’s only a tiny slice of it! There is so much more beyond our ability to comprehend. And people could be focused on different aspects of the spectrum.

Ever since I was young, I wanted to perceive what was beyond my reality. I wanted to know what other people knew to be true.

I wanted to understand WHY they thought and believed so differently. I wanted to examine what I believed in light of what they believed and see if my beliefs held up.

I remember asking my Mom what the world looked like through her eyes. I even wondered if she saw the same things that I did.

And when you start forcing yourself into perspectives that are not always comfortable to you, it really changes you.

It’s like travel.

It broadens the mind.

It kills prejudice.

Even when someone acts in a belligerent way, you can see past the rudeness, the hurt, at what they might really be saying. Because what’s really happening is not always a result of something you’ve said or done. Oh, often it is, but sometimes it can be about something else and have nothing to do with you.

But it could be a part of their perception of their own reality.

I find it so fascinating!

But…there can be a big problem with thinking like this too.

It can mean you get misinterpreted because you are following an unusual line of reasoning.

You’re not always in lock step with the rest of society. And that can lead to ruffled feathers and missteps.

Seems I’ve been guilty of these lately.

If I’ve offended people, I do apologize. It was not my intention.

Still figuring things out.