What Color Are Your Glasses?

Our perceptions color of the world we live in.
They are the lenses through which we filter the
information we receive from the world around us.
What we perceive as good or bad, right or wrong,
determines how we react to any given situation. 

A story that comes to mind is the man who boarded
the subway with his two children.  The children
ran up and down the car playing loudly and
annoying the other passengers.  The father does
nothing, as the other passenger's fume, until one
angrily says "For goodness sakes why don't you
control your children! Just look at them."  The
other passengers nod in agreement and the man
looks up and says "I'm so sorry I've just come
from the hospital, my wife died and I can't bear
to tell them. I really just want them to have a
little more time to be innocent."  The other
passengers are stunned and their anger is
replaced with compassion.

How often during the course of the day do we
judge others actions or circumstances without
seeing the full picture?  This  really becomes
apparent when we engage in minor arguments and
disagreements.  We believe the other person is
wrong and we are right, the other person believes
the same, and the tension mounts. Ask yourself
what the price of being right is. Does it feel
good?

By shifting perception, changing your glasses if
you will, you can see things from a different
view.  This may be all it takes to shake off the
tension and come to an agreement.  In simply
acknowledging that there is another way to look
at things we expand our own possibilities.

Over the next week when you find yourself feeling
frustrated or angry about something, try putting
on a new pair of glasses and seeing it in a
different light sometimes that's all we need to
come up with an innovative solution or to be able
to take advantage of an opportunity.