Do You See What I See?

I recently read an article by Leslie Householder entitled: Your Reticular Activating System and a Tranquilizer Gun.  I found it to be a very interesting article which made me start thinking about several things.  The basis of the article talks about how she and her husband were in the same room trying to concentrate on their own tasks when suddenly her husband shouted out of exasperation: “Argh!  I need a tranquilizer gun!”  She thought he was referring to the noise their daughters had been making playing in the tub in their master bathroom when he was in fact, he was referring to the noisy barking dogs outside which she hadn’t even noticed.  It was a profound point for her to realize that they were both in the same room and yet they were hearing different things.  As Leslie put it, “Same environment, different experience.”

How many times have you noticed that in your life?  Someone in the same room as you has a totally difference experience than you? Probably quite often if you are paying attention.  People can see the same movie and have it be a different experience.  Perhaps one person notices something that another person doesn’t, whether it be a message in a story line or a subtle image in the background that one sees and another doesn’t.  It’s all a matter of perspective and where our mind is focused at the moment.  It could even be that one person is ready to hear something, but to another, the same information just slips right on by or doesn’t resonate with them.

Can you see the face?

We don’t always see what other people see.  Have you ever looked at the clouds and seen some kind of a a figure but can’t seem to get the other person to see it?  I recently posted a couple of photos on Facebook that have a ‘hidden’ image in them.  They are fascinating.  If you don’t see the image…. you can’t figure out what the other guy is trying to talking about or you may even get frustrated.   But once you see it, you almost can’t go back to seeing it the old way.  At least it’s harder to do…. but you at least now have a perspective of both sides of the picture.

So, how do we know when someone is ready to see what we see?  Or are we ready to see what they see?  It’s not always easy.  I think it takes being open to another’s opinion and respecting the fact that they may never see or understand your ‘picture’, but you can do your best to try to understand theirs.  It doesn’t mean you have to agree with it, or even like their opinion….  but we can all respect each others opinions.

While it’s important in some situations for everyone to be on the same ‘page’…. it’s still important to respect others feelings and ideas.  That’s where brilliant creations are born!  IDEAS!  It’s just possible that someone else may come up with a better way…. a new idea….  a breakthrough.  And we should respect that.

Maybe we just need to remember that we may all be in the same room of life, but we are all having different experiences…. and that’s OK.    We don’t need to be right…   but it’s also important that we hold onto the things that we know are true according to our own perspective and understanding.  We can still allow someone else to see things their way without losing our own perspective.

What do you see? The horizon or the baby?

That’s what makes the world go around!  Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?

I’m grateful for people who can make me look at things in a different way than perhaps I’ve been looking.  Especially when it comes to seeing myself in a different light than I see myself!

I am Grateful!  How are You?

Do you see the old woman or the young woman?

As suggested from the comment below…. I’m including another picture which is a great illustration of seeing someone 2 different ways.

Prayers for Daphne

Read about Daphne’s story here .  Miracles never cease!  Keep her in your prayers and be grateful for all the little healthy ones around you!

I am Grateful!  How are You?

Discovering My Genius

Wow…. what an amazing weekend I’ve just been through!  I don’t know if you believe that things are put in our path for a purpose…  but I do.

I had the opportunity to attend the Genius Bootcamp this weekend.  This workshop is hosted by Thoughtsalive.com  ….  the website of Leslie Householder, author of The Jackrabbit Factor.  I was introduced to Leslie and her book back in September of last year.  Ever since reading it and discovering her website, I have wanted to attend one of these bootcamps.

Things don’t always work out like you would hope in order to do something like this…. but providence was on my side and made a way possible at the last minute to attend this bootcamp at an incredible price.  I am so grateful!

Not only did I learn a lot about myself these last few days…. I met some pretty amazing people that I know without a doubt that I was meant to meet.  Not only will many of these people help me in obtaining the goal that I focused on this weekend, but I feel I will have a continuing association with them for not only my benefit…. but the benefit of many other people.

It’s humbling to know that the Lord really knows and watches out for you…… especially when you are paying attention.  In fact, I guess that is why I was humbled…. I was paying attention!

I am so grateful for the things I’ve learned the last two days.  It gave me a chance to look inside myself for a while and realize a little of who I am and who I need to become.  I’ve known for a while that I’m a little scared of myself.  Perhaps that why I’m not good at praising myself and recognizing my strengths in other areas except the obvious ones to me.

Now, that may not make a lot of sense to you…. but I know my strengths where performing talents are concerned…. but when it comes to things outside of that…. I have a tendency to either not recognize it or shrug it off.  I’m in such desperate need of embracing my strengths and learning to use them to be a good influence on people!  I know I have more to give than I am currently giving.

I learned a lot about gratitude this weekend too.  It may seem odd for someone who has been blogging about gratitude for over a year now to ‘learn’ something about it….. but I did.

I am so grateful for the people who were put in my path today.  There wasn’t one person in that workshop today that I didn’t learn something from.  Though I connected on a much deeper level with a few of them…. I learned something from every person there.  What a fulfilling weekend!  It’s introduced me to other people that I feel I need to learn more from!  My book list to read and the workshops I want to attend have been added to tremendously.

I’m grateful that I have reached a point in my life that I have become the student who wants to learn so much and that the teachers are being put in my path!

I’m excited, though maybe a little scared, to pursue what is ahead of me.  To be able to learn what I need and desire to learn.  I just wonder why it took me so long to get here!  That is the one regret I have and even wonder at times if I’m too old to be pursuing some of these things!  But I guess the timing is right for me!

I hope for the sake of many of you, my readers,  that you may find that desire to find your full potential now…..at a much younger age than I!  You will bless so many more lives by doing so…. but more importantly your own!

I’m just grateful I’m now on the path to discovering my genius!  When will you discover yours?

I am Grateful!  How are You?

 

Folks from the Old Country

I realized the other day how much I love the people from the ‘old country’…..  People who migrated here years ago because of the war or came looking for the American dream, etc..  Their wonderful accents are so fun to listen to.  I’m wondering if it’s going to be a dying ‘art’ as their children grow up here…. Will we loose that charm of being able to hear those accents?  Sad to think about…..

I’m kind of partial to Dutch accents…  <grin>  My in-laws are Dutch.  That makes me kind of partial to that one….but I love so many of the other ones too!  I have some German and Irish heritage in my family…. so those accents make me happy too!   The little lady I heard speaking in the temple the other day I think may have been from Germany.  She was so sweet as she greeted one of the patrons walking in.  She asked him a quick question and that is why I really got to hear her speak.  They usually just say, “Welcome to the Temple”.  But a little conversation ensued so I got to here more from her.

I know many of these wonderful people’s children are born and raised here in the USA and therefore don’t speak with an accent.  They become more Americanized.  Which is a good thing, I guess.  I know when my husband’s family moved here from Holland when he was almost 2 , they would only allow English to be spoken in the home so that it would make his Mom learn the local language.  While that was a good thing for her….. unfortunately…. none of the kids know how to speak Dutch!  My husband understands a little of it…. but doesn’t speak it.

Where is the happy medium line in that process?  How do you make sure that everyone is learning English and yet still keep that heritage alive by helping the children be bi-lingual?  Yet…. it’s important that they all learn English, including the stay at home caregiver, to better be able to function in our society.

I’m just glad that I can be surrounded by those wonderful accents for now…. both at family gatherings and in the temple!  I just worry that within a few years they will be all gone!  How sad that day will be!  Better enjoy it while I can!

I am Grateful!  How are You?

I May Not Always Be Right! (Gasp!)

I was playing a serious game of Tangram on my iPad last night.  (Which, technically, for the iPad is called TanZen)  It’s a free app.  If you don’t have it you should try it.  It’s a very good game to get your brain thinking and seeing where the ‘puzzle’ piece goes. I guess it could be considered mathematical too…. but I don’t see it that way.  I made a post about Tangram one day last year,  You can check it out here if you’d like.  It seems to be one of my more popular posts.

Have you ever bee absolutely sure that a puzzle piece just HAD to go where you were sure it went? Didn't work did it!

Anyway…..  I was playing a game…. and by game I mean trying to complete each puzzle on that page…..  There were a few puzzles I was struggling with.  Most of them come pretty easy to me because I seem to be able to see fairly easy where the large triangle pieces will fit and then it’s usually pretty easy after that.  But there were a few games I was getting hung up on.

It occurred to me as I as playing those more difficult games that I was being so insistent on thinking that I knew for sure where those puzzle pieces fit, that I didn’t want to try and see that I might be wrong.  After all…. many times those triangular pieces fit right where I thought they would….. but the rest of the puzzle wouldn’t come together with them in those spots.

Finally….. after fussing and trying to make it work my way, I had to turn to for help to get my first ‘hint’ on the puzzle.  This is done by double tapping on the puzzle silhouette.  Sometimes those hints aren’t very helpful, but usually they are.  Once I placed the piece in the puzzle in the area that was given to me as a hint…. I can usually figure it out from there…. but I often feel a little dejected that I had to resort to a ‘hint’ instead of figuring it out on my own.

It occurred to me that many things in life are that way, aren’t they?  Sometimes we are so insistent that the ‘puzzle’ is suppose to go together a certain way that we don’t allow ourselves to try and see it in a different way.  We’ve been so trained to think that things will happen a certain way or in a certain order….. we are so stuck inside our little ‘box’ of thinking, that we don’t allow ourselves to step out of the box for a moment and see that it just may take a little ‘help’ or ‘hint’ for us to figure out the puzzle.

Maybe we are even afraid to step outside that box.  There is always a little fear in the unknown.  But isn’t that what life is all about? To learn to stretch and grow?   Getting over our fears and moving into a place of love?  I guess I could keep insisting that the puzzle will only work one way… but by doing so, I allow myself to get very upset or confused in the process of not being open to the fact that there actually might be another way.  Not just a better way…. but another way.  Our way isn’t working after all!

You know what?  Maybe I’m not always right!  Maybe I need to be more open to the ‘hint’ that’s trying to come into the picture.  And maybe that hint won’t hurt so much after all….. especially if it makes all the pieces of the puzzle fit!  Don’t be so stubborn sometimes!

It’s funny how playing a little game can bring about such deep thought!  I guess I’ll take that as a moment of learning…. one that I can be grateful for!

I am Grateful!  How are You?