The Power of Perception

By: Candiace Parks

Oxford dictionary, defines perception as, the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. What we perceive determines how we receive things. We  are influenced by our thoughts, how we treat people, our expressions on our face, as well as the energy we put out. How you see things in the world helps to shape, mold, and determine your perception of it.

The way we perceive things can be themed around how we interpret things. For example, when you see a half of cup of water some might look at the cup and consider it to be half empty, while others will look at it and consider it half full. Each person views the world differently than another. Perception is something that you believe to be true. If a person believes the glass is half empty they look at the world in a more pessimistic way. Whereas a person who looks at the glass as half full has more of an optimistic view on life because they are more aware of different opportunities of a half full glass.

With life you have the freedom of being able to make choices. You can choose to see the goodness in things or you can focus on all the things that might go wrong. The Old Testament Book of Proverbs chapter 17, verse 22: “A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.”  Sometimes we miss things because of our level of awareness. If we increase our awareness it helps to increase our accuracy of how we perceive things. If you change your mind you can change your world. Instead of complaining about how the cup is half empty, take another perspective of it because we have the power to change our perception of how we view things.  In Philippians 4:8 it states, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”   Once we change our perspective of something the way we received the half empty glass can be looked at as something much more. Even in our darkest of situations if we simply take the time to breath, think resiliently and change our outlook we could change our outcome. You are the only one who has power over how to perceive things in life.