Life is what you perceive

"There is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so."  -William Shakespeare

A simple reality that people often lose sight of or even fail to recognize altogether is that we are all masters of our own perception.  There are plenty of Buddhist quotes, famous lines from literature, and modern musings of positive psychology that all say pretty much the same thing-- your world "is the creation of [your] mind."

I previously wrote that allowing others to spark a reaction in you is fruitless.  Furthermore, focusing on the faults of the world and the drawbacks of your existence is probably the quickest way to develop a disdain for consciousness;  not to mention a drinking problem.

Leading a happy, fulfilling life takes continuous focus and mindfulness.  About 60% of affect (your disposition to being happy vs. sad) is actually genetic.  The rest is generally related to how you react to the world and how you choose to structure your thoughts.  Believe it or not, how you think, whether positive or negative, is a learned activity just like anything else.  Both cognitive therapy and meditation are tools to structure your thought patterns in a way that sets you up for happiness.  Because cognitive therapy is both expensive and comes with a bit of a negative stigma, we'll focus on meditation.

Meditation is defined as a conscious attempt to focus thought in a non-analytic way.  This means that meditation is an attempt to completely, yes completely, clear your mind.  Surprisingly, completely clearing your mind in a day of uber-connectedness, may be one of the most challenging things you can do.  I regularly attempt to pull this off for five minutes before I start my work day.  In six months of trying several times a week, I've officially succeeded once.  I emerged from this experience feeling as if I had just taken a shot of dopamine after eight hours of sleep.  It was amazing.  I had finally experienced what I had read.  The discipline required to meditate gives you the strength to control your thoughts, predisposing you to focus on the positive.  It relaxes you to an incredible point of peacefulness and due to the control required, actually makes you a more productive, mindful person.

So to sum this all up, remember that life is what you perceive.  Having a tough day at work can suck the wind out of you, resulting in a few drinks over which you complain about life, work, everything.  But the same day could be perceived as a tough day that brought about several positive learning experiences, only to be capped off with a great hang-sesh with good friends.

Things like meditation, and the knowledge that you are in control, give you the skills to consciously choose what road to take.  I think we'd all agree that it's a lot more fun to take the road that has the most laughs, where the glasses are all half full.    


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