Perception

This post is a continuation in part from the post I made a couple of days ago, ‘Engrossed’.

I wrote about how we have a need to be more aware of things around us, and how we can miss significant things in our lives while looking in a completely different direction. I wrote that I think it is very human for us to miss things, but another thing that comes to mind is how we also interpret things around us.

We know when we have a sense of urgency around something. We know if there has been an argument, or something else has occurred when we weren’t present, by the atmosphere when we return to the room. We get the feeling that we are being watched by someone behind us, even though we can’t see anyone – sometimes we can actually feel someone’s eyes boring into us from across a crowded room. We can sometimes tell how the weather will be just by walking outside. On occasions, we have premonitions about an event that will occur within the next few minutes, and laugh it off (and usually act surprised) when it does! We are taking in signals from all around us with all of these examples, but are not aware of the signals themselves. But how else would we ‘get the feeling’ what was happening without receiving these signals?

Perception is a funny old thing! Some of the things we notice don’t tell us anything. Other things tell us quite a lot. And there are even certain things that tell us a load of lies!

The things that don’t tell us anything are the everyday, run of the mill things that we see regularly. They provide the background to our lives, but on occasions, some of these ‘background’ bits and pieces leap out at us. An example here would be a shop window. Not a shop that you would go in regularly, but one you need to walk past frequently to get from A to B. You wouldn’t notice anything in the shop window as you walked passed. Later in the day someone may mention that they are looking for a certain type of ‘thing’. Did you see it in the shop window earlier? Something tells you that you might have… yet you didn’t notice it.

The things that tell us quite a lot are a little more obvious. A broken shop window and alarm sounding gives a clear clue. A warm cup of tea in an empty room gives another. We pick information up from these clues although we haven’t seen the complete picture.

The things that tell us lies are the most obvious of all! The thing is, we know what we are seeing, and yet we are seeing something completely different to what we know. Railway lines moving away into the distance… they meet together on the horizon, don’t they?

Being aware of everything around us is a great way not to miss anything in our lives. How we perceive what is around us is equally important. However, spending time looking for these things actually distracts us rather than helps us, because we are focusing on one thing, rather than everything.

Finding the right balance between everything is the best option to follow. Being part of everything is the best way to be connected to everything. But the easiest way of all is just being ourselves. Being ourselves is the human way of being connected. Being human means we will miss things. But we are aware of that anyway… we are aware of everything, but we are not aware of everything.

I think that is the paradox of being aware!