Nothing You See Means Anything
Nothing you see means anything. Everything in the world is neutral. It has no meaning until you give it one. You say the Bible is sacred and holy. To someone else it is blasphemous. To someone speaking a different language, it is nothing, gibberish.
Meaning is in each individual mind and projected out. You give people, places and things your personal interpretation. They have no meaning until and unless you assign one. This man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The person you love may be hated by someone else.
It is the same with experience. Experiences have no inherent meaning. We determine whether they are good or bad, happy or sad, positive or negative. Your interpretation is influenced by past conditioning, what other people think and our innate tendency to be positive or negative.
There are people who anticipate problems, expect to be taken advantage of. They get what they expect. There are people who see the silver lining in the darkest cloud.
A tilt toward negativity is in our genes. Survival once depended upon being attuned to threats and danger. That’s why bad news captures our attention faster than good news. We dwell on pain more than pleasure, and focus on insults more than compliments. For most of us, threats and danger are not lurking around every corner. While it pays to be cautious in certain situations, looking at life through a negative filter has negative effects.
If we are open-minded, we can train ourselves to look past the negative and find the bright spot. Positive people are healthier and happier than pessimistic people. An open mind is capable of learning and thus growing. Being open-minded makes us more empathic and compatible.
ARE YOU OPEN-MINDED OR NARROW-MINDED?
1. Challenge your firmly held beliefs. Do some research. Are your opinions fact-based? Is there any validity to the other side?
2. You get what you expect. Are you looking for the upside or the downside, the good or the bad?
3. Be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. Sometimes we unconsciously seek a negative outcome to prove we are right, or to punish ourselves or someone else.
4. Take a negative experience in your life and look for the hidden light. What did you learn? How can you grow from it?
MEANING COMES FROM INSIDE OUT
There is no meaning inherent in anything. We give our lives, people and things all the meaning they have for us. Meaning is in perception and your perception is your reality.
“There is no truth. There is only perception.” Gustave Flaubert
Everything is nothing until you give it meaning. So you have incredible power. You can make things good or bad. You can project light or darkness onto your world. You can believe in miracles or misery. The world is devoid of meaning. You make it what it is to you.
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