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7/18/2020 What Is RealIs your reality real? What is reality? Is your reality the same as my reality?  We each choose how we experience what life throws our way. But it’s not quite that simple — let’s dig in. How we experience something depends on our filters. Our filters are the lenses we see the world through. Are you with me? The question now becomes “what makes up our lenses and filters"? One thing is the meaning we give to our life events and the emotion we attach to that meaning. This makes up our “experience”. Another is our fears and unresolved past emotional traumas. Yet another is our conditioning from the socialized mind. This could be programming handed down from previous generations as well as your understanding and attachment to societal “norms". It is also strongly influenced by your schooling and information sources — what you read, who you associate with, what you watch and listen to, etc. One more to drive it home, is our emotional connections. I could go on but I’ll spare you. The point is these types of things are what make up the lenses we view the world through and ultimately create our personal version of reality. The CallI remember getting the call in 2015 with the news that my mom had late stage cancer (endometriosis). At first, my imagination ran wild. "Oh crap! The BIG C word!" By the way mom is still with us today and 5 years cancer free last month. Let’s move onward to my point. For months while my mom was going through treatment, I had two points of contact — My sister and my mom. In fact, I don’t recall whether I spoke with my dad during the experience at all. I went through the experience all via phone from a couple thousand miles away. Every week or two my sister would call and update me. Every week or two I would chat with my mom on her good days. But I had to question after every call — WHAT IS REALITY HERE? Every call with my sister, especially in the early stages of Mom’s fight was:
Quick side note: Thank God for my sister. Thank God she was there locally to help my dad and mom through maybe their toughest year. Thank God she has the mental and emotional capacity to handle such an experience. I have a ton of gratitude for her strength. On the flip side every phone call with my mom was the exact opposite.
How could I be getting such conflicting information about the same situation? What was I to believe was real? Was my sister being over dramatic? Was my mother down-playing to protect her son? What was real? It was like they were describing two completely unrelated situations. Why? Because they were. Two different realities of the same situation. Two different vantage points — meaning they were experiencing it from two different places. Yes, the same situation, however, my mom experienced it as a mother & patient and communicated as a mother — whereas my sister experienced it as a daughter & caregiver and communicated as a sister. My sister operating from (maybe) an understandable place of fear of loss. My mom operating from (maybe) an understandable place of hope and faith. And me trying to make sense of it all from afar. Here is my point. Since we all choose how we experience what life throws at us, the reality is there is no reality. To wrap up the story about my mom, let me throw another layer of “what’s real” confusion on top of everything. My sister and mom were communicating to me through their own personal lenses, filters and from their vantage point. Guess what? I was receiving and trying to understand all of their information through my own lenses, filters and from my vantage point. Were my sisters and moms calls REALLY as I described above? Or, is that simply how I was hearing and interpreting it through my own filters of emotion and fear? Who’s reality was accurate? Mine? My sisters? My Moms? All of ours? None of ours? "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way." Turbulent Times?Today as I write this the entire world is sharing a single experience called COVID-19. The times are turbulent. The future is uncertain on many levels. The economy is the worst it’s been since maybe the great depression. Liberties are at risk. People are divided on many topics. There is a lot of violence. And to add to it all there are no reliable information resources. What are we to believe is real? But here is the key, each of us has a different version of reality in these turbulent times. Some are in doom and gloom. Some think it’s end times. Others think it will all go back to normal (It won’t). Others are just riding it out on a steady diet of hope and faith. Some are afraid. Others angry. Some are hopeful while others have lost hope. You get the point. In closing, coming out of these ever changing “turbulent times” some will be left not knowing how to move on, some will merely survive, and a few will THRIVE. Those who thrive are the one who equip themselves to adapt, to take back their personal power and break the chains of the socialized mind. Take Your Power back & Change Your RealityWhat if you had the POWER to change your reality?
What if you had the POWER to change your “life experience” to one of fulfillment and purpose? I am here to tell you, "YOU already have the POWER!” You just have to learn to tap into it. If you want to start equipping yourself for the future consider the “Redemption Experience” Hosted by my coach James Arthur Ray. I’ll be attending arming myself with the mindset, adaptability and emotional intelligence to thrive in what ever chapter our amazing planet encounters next. The world is changing with or without you — Are you ready to THRIVE and change your reality? Learn more and reserve your seat using the link below — http://www.mikecalderwood.me/blog/redemption-experience Comments are closed.
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