Perception Exercise - What Do You See?

Yay! It’s Monday again! Welcome back!

Have you had a joyful, fun week?

Over time in this blog so far I have talked a bit about different types of stress, with “Perceived stress” being a pivotal factor in a happy, healthy life. I want to revisit perception this week, from a different vantage point.

But first. Look at the image below. What do you see? J

What was the part that really caught and held your focus?

1.       The black dot?

2.       The white space around the dot?

99% of people will only see the black dot on that paper. The tiny imperfection present. Isn’t that fascinating?!

By the way, did you know that 67.53876% of statistics are made up?

Yep, I made both these statistics up, but I’m more confident in the first one than this second one J

Ehem…. Back on topic. So the vast majority of people will only see that black dot. Why, might you wonder? Now, the following discussion is my own personal theory and musing, but yeah, it makes sense to me!

My theory is that we notice the flaw, the contrast, primarily because of two reasons.

1.       Instinct

2.       Training/programming

Instinct. We are natural hunters – our eyes point forward (like raptors)! Through our evolution we have learnt to spot anything out of place in the long grass. ‘Might that be dinner hiding in the grass over there?’ ‘Ooh, that plant is edible!’

Humans have survived and evolved by having a keen sense of sight. We needed to be able to spot catchable game animals, and we needed to be able to forage and find special roots, nuts and vegetables to nourish ourselves. Thanks to this, our eyes feel naturally drawn to the contrast in a situation.

Training also has a big part to play in our daily perceptions. We’ve been taught to have the same beliefs and expectations from life as those who educated us.  If you had a loved one following you around constantly dusting that stray hair off your shoulder or smoothing your clothing, you become very aware of outward appearance after a while. And because you are so self-conscious of your own presentation, you may inadvertently become aware of the presentation of others around you.

So putting together these two factors of instinct and education, suddenly seeing just the black dot is quite logical. But let’s challenge the paradigm now.

If stress is getting caught in a perception of something that is not serving for your greatest happiness, how can you change your focus away from that perceived black dot?

We can do it by stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. Of that picture above, how much of the space is actually taken up by that black dot? Less than 1%? That means that more than 99% of that image is happy, wide open, white space.

But let’s not pick on that beautiful little black dot. Thanks to that black dot, the white space becomes more meaningful and interesting, because we have contrast. If everything is exactly the same there is nothing of interest. The same goes for life.

So out of this fun little rant I have had this week, my GEM is this: Life is fun BECAUSE of the contrast. We know we love to holiday because we work. We know we love to work because we holiday. J

We know we love to be with others because of time alone. Likewise, we love to be alone because of time we spend with others.

And stress is a wonderful contrast in life too. Or rather, the original thing that caused the perceived stress is. Seeing it for what it is, appreciating it for what it is and accepting it without needing to feel stressed is the happiest route.

And now, take a deep breath in……. and out….. and smile!

And get up and do a spazzy fun dance – it’s Monday!

And just because I love fractals so much, and we're having such a beautiful winter down in Australia, here is a snowflake, just for you!

And with that little bit of mischief, and lots of love – have a delightful, fun week.

In love and light, be peaceful.

Annalise