Everything We Think We Know We Only Think We Know

We can be so certain of things, can’t we? Our parents let us down and didn’t love us as we wanted. Our partners don’t understand us. People should get vaccines. People shouldn’t get vaccines. Red state. Blue state. I’m too fat. I’m too thin. The point is that we are always making judgements about the world and ourselves. That’s ok. It’s what we need to do to make sense of the world. But when we take our judgments as more than just opinions, we set ourselves up for disappointment, anger, and frustration.

Think of the world we live in as a blank stage onto which we cast a set of characters that match up to our past experiences. What if. What if instead we encountered our world with the eyes of a child? Have you noticed how awed children are by the time they do anything? The first time they see a butterfly. The first time they see an airplane. Everything they sense in the world is a first and so they experience it with a sense of wonder and ask what it might be. Over time, we learn about these things and form semi-rigid opinions about their worth, what they are made up—and in the case of people—whether they are trustworthy or not. This can be a good thing, BUT we can realize that our ‘opinions’ are just that—built up from our own experiences and not necessarily a true or complete picture of what we encountering.

Try seeing your world with fresh eyes today.