Double Vision Filtering What We See

 How clearly can you see people, events and situations? 'Crystal clear' most people will say' 'I was there, I know what I saw!' But do they, really? Why then are there so many interpretations of the same event by the same audience. When our eyes complete processing of any object it is transmitted to our brain, that amazing storage bank that houses every life experience, everything we have learned and even the memory of the emotions that were involved in what we learned. Suddenly what we 'saw' has been filtered through what we know or believe is true and even our emotions impacted what we saw and believed. Therein are the differences in what people see.

When we are unclear about what we see we do a comparison analysis of events, equating it to things we have witnessed or experienced in the past and what we believed was true about those things. A seasoned traveler will have an entirely different perspective than the person who has never left their city or state. One who has been exposed to abuse or dysfunctional behavior has been trained to deny what they see, to excuse the inexcusable in many cases. They see things differently than those who have been exposed to a loving balanced environment. In fact, most simply accept their environment as normal without question. We are at a far greater disadvantage when we are unaware that things are way off kilter, far more prone to interpret events that are dangerous or horrific with less emotion. We can't call a spade a spade because we don't see it as a spade; we imagine we are a survivor and act accordingly.

By the time most people say, 'that might not have been normal' they imagine it is too late to change and continue through life peering through broken lens. Every deduction is likely to be skewered; many spend a lifetime feeling misunderstood and rarely voice their opinion imagining it will be criticized. Others spend their life being angry because others just cannot see what they see. When we are caught up in these behavior patterns releasing them requires a retraining process to understand what we really see. Until we complete that process we must interrupt the normal progression of interpretation by not accepting the first response. Instead, we have to run the image back through again paying careful attention to the details in the images. It is much like converting a photo from color to black and white so as not to be distracted. This allows us to focus only on what is before us without emotion, without attachment to the outcome.

Practicing this on events and personal involvement with anyone or anything has an added bonus. You can kick your old companions named denial and delusion to the curb because you can correctly identify what you see! Doing so carries the promise of a brand new life.