When I was abroad, I recall one day when the weather was quite warm. I remember it because I had lots of fun looking at how differently people were clothed. There was such a huge diversity that it seemed almost unbelievable, and even a little funny. There were some wearing sleeveless shirts, others had light tops or T-shirts on but ... there were quite a few still wearing jackets and even hooded winter coats.
As usual (it happens when something sort of interesting or unusual attracts my attention), this great variety made me reflect upon the huge difference in perception that human beings experience most of the time. Just think about it. The weather is the same for everybody, same temperature, same sunshine.
Yet, some feel hot, some feel warm, others feel almost freezing. Isn’t it intriguing? Try this experiment: Take a container full of water at room temperature. Now warm up your hand near a stove or a fire and immerse it in the water. How do you “experience” the liquid? Nice and cool, right? Now hold some ice for a little while and put your hand in the same water. What will be the sensation you have? The water feels nice and warm, right? So, how can this be? The same water cannot be cool and warm at the same time, can it be? But it can be. Both sensations are correct, although opposite, with reference to the same situation (water), because you are in a different position (hot hand, cold hand). You are looking at the same thing from different perspectives.
Remember the computer screen that went “dark”?
So? So, isn’t this an evident proof that reality exists all in the mind, as many believe? We experience the world according to the way we choose to interpret it. Whatever we believe to be true, so it “is”. You may be willing to reflect upon this apparent contradiction. One says, “Hey, I’m sweating and that guy is wearing a windbreaker?” Or, “What? I find this sale to be a ripoff and she says it’s a bargain?”, “I love this TV program and I can’t believe that my friend finds it boring!”
Such reflections should always be present in your mind. They will be greatly useful when you have to deal with someone who has an opinion different from yours. You say, “It’s so evident that this athlete is much better than the other one. How can’t he (or she) see it?”. But, mind you, “he” (or she) is thinking exactly the same about his own champion (or whatever else you are talking about).
In order to avoid useless clashes and have better relationships, it’s more convenient for you to be lenient, to accept people and things as they are, without any negative judgment and without trying to force your opinion upon them. Each is entitled to their own. No one has the right to impose on others. Those who do so are the people who cannot appreciate diversity.
They are close-minded, rigid and inflexible. They believe that “they” are always right and do not admit or accept another possibility. Everything is either white or black. They don’t realize that most “stuff” in life is gray (and different shades of all the other colors). If the world were the way they want it, how boring it would be!
— Elsa Franco Al Ghaslan, a Saudi English instructor
and published author (in Italy), is a long-time
scholar of positive thinking.
E-mail: [email protected]
Blog: recreateyourlifetoday.blogspot.com
Creative Thinking: We think differently
