What is our experience of life and how do we create it? Why does it seem that some people are happier than others? Why do people behave in different ways in same situations than other people do?
These are questions that a lot of us ponder every now and then. The thing is that, as I stated above, we do create our own experience of life.
There really are no two people in the whole world that experience the life the same way. So how is that? What are those things that affect how we experience our life? And how can we change that experience if we want to?
Perception – The Foundation of Our Experience
The way it works is that we collect information from the surrounding world around us by using our five senses; what we see, what we hear, what we feel, what we smell, what we taste.
What happens then, basically, is that we form our perception, our interpretation, of that data that we collect through our senses. And there’s a huge system inside us that makes those perceptions and interpretations.
Those interpretations and perceptions are based on a lot of things. We give meanings to all events that we experience. And those meanings are mainly based on our past experiences and the meanings we have given to those past experiences.
I know it sounds quite complicated and in a way it is, yet, on the other hand, the process itself is rather simple.
How The Mind Works
So what affects on what meanings we give to those past experiences? There are a lot of things, basically. There are cultural differences, and what we have been taught as small kids. In addition, when we were taught those things as we were kids, we made yet our own evaluations on them, based on very little understanding on what things actually mean.
As we experience any events in our lives, we unconsciously start to look for the same or similar kind of events in our past and pay attention to the similarities that appear in these current events.
Our mind likes what is familiar and we tend to look for those familiar things in the world around us. And whatever is not that familiar, we basically avoid paying attention to and, instead, pay attention to the familiar things, thus distorting the way we experience everything.
And when we pay attention to the familiar things, we also think in similar ways about them. Even when there are some differences in those similarities, we tend to pay attention to the similarities.
We Like Being Right
Furthermore, we like being right. None of us really likes to be wrong, we just don’t like that. Therefore, we then also search for evidence that proves us that what we think is correct. Meaning that we constantly look for proof that our perceptions and interpretations are the correct ones.
In addition, we tend to even fight against any opposite perceptions or interpretations. We often try really hard to prove that, yes, we are right and all the others are wrong.
So when two or more people are experiencing the same event in life, they all interpret it in different ways. And at the same time, in their own minds, they are really trying to prove that their opinion, their perception, is the right one.
That’s why we even have these wars around the world. It’s because people think differently about the same thing and they all think that they are right. They all think that they have the truth available and the other people don’t. And our job is to convince the other people that we are right and they are wrong!
Beliefs – Thoughts – Perceptions
So all those things are involved in the formation of our beliefs, which form our values, what we really appreciate, what we feel that is important in this world.
Therefore, our beliefs influence any perception that we have.
Why is it, then, that some people seem to be happy and some seem to be more fearful or angry? If you want to be happy, instead of being fearful, how do you do that?
It really is about changing your perception, changing your beliefs, maybe your values.
It is all in your thoughts. The basic truth is that when you change your thoughts, you change how you feel about things, and what’s going on around you.
And with that, you start to change your perceptions.
Experience of Life
In my book, Words of Wisdom, the first chapter deals with the experience of life.
The book has also a lot of wise quotes. And I ‘d like to share here one of the quotes. This one is from Richard Bandler and Owen Fitzpatrick:
And that’s pretty much in a nutshell the process of how we experience life. In my other blog posts I will explain different aspects of the experience of life that we have and also how you can really change your experience of life, and the world, if you want to, so go and read my other posts, as well!
