Your Perception IS Your Reality

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Wednesday June 4 2008

Welcome to the midweek point.

I’m so wonderfully excited this week. The Wealthy Attitude Book Store is being received incredibly by our subscribers. I just couldn’t be happier as many are now seriously building their e-book library’s. You can check it out at: www.thewealthyattitudebookstore.com

Also, the topic we’ve been working on now for nearly two weeks has generated mail to me that has me just buzzing. Many people are now (especially in light of the economic conditions) finally realizing that being in control of their own business enterprise is great insurance against the ravages of an undisciplined economy. We’ll be talking much more on this subject soon!

Many of the notes I’ve received recently about the whole “personal responsibility” issue, focus on the question between “reality” and “perception”. Our friend Tony offers us something today that is certainly worth some consideration.

Your Perception IS Your Reality

by Tony D. Clark

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein

"Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you." - Douglas Adams

Take a minute to scan your surroundings. Are you in a familiar place or somewhere new?

Stop reading this, and just look around you. Pick out an object, maybe something you hadn't noticed before, and focus your attention on it. If you really focus, it'll get brighter and more "real" than it was when it was just an unnoticed piece of the background noise of your life.

Now, try to view your surroundings from the point of the object. Some people can do this with no effort, and for others, it takes some concentration. Depending on how adept you are at focusing your concentration, you may notice a slight shift in your perception - a weird jump in realty, where you are suddenly viewing the world from a different perspective.

Did it work? Whether you noticed anything or not, your perception did change, albeit for an instant. It's important to be conscious of your perception, because if you're not, someone else will create it for you.

Trick the Eye in French

Things aren't always what they seem. Marketers and magicians rely on this fact to make you see things the way they want you too see them. Artists do, too.

You may have seen Julian Beever's amazing pavement drawings. He utilizes the Trompe l'oeil technique, which means "trick the eye" in French. He uses his drawing stills to create a perception. Like an optical illusion, our mind attempts to fill in the details of something it either thinks it already knows, or doesn't quite understand.

This works out fine when that's the intention - momentarily letting our world be shaped for fun. But wandering through life, letting others create your perceptions, can make for a very unfulfilling journey.

Change Your Story, Change Your Perception, Change Your Life

We all get caught up in our stories. Most of us think we are our stories. It's when those stories take on a life of their own, and that life isn't the one we want, that things start to suck.

Think about the story you're living right now. Who wrote it? Did you consciously decide to create the reality you're living now, or was it mainly shaped by your parents, friends, spouse, school, or the media?

If you don't like the story your living, then change the perception. Envision how you'd write the next chapter of your story. Better yet, actually sit down and write it. Focus your perception on creating a new reality, one where you are in charge of the story. Take back the job as screenwriter and director, and stop just being an actor (unless you're Rachel McAdams - I rather enjoy her acting).

Everything begins with a decision.

Decide now to be in charge of your own perception of reality. Because if you don't, there are plenty of folks whose sole purpose in life is to craft that perception for you.

Do you trust them to have your best interests in mind?

Tony D. Clark writes, draws cartoons, designs software and websites, and spends a lot of time talking others into working from home, being creative, and doing what they love.

The Memorial Days of Your Life

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Monday May 26 2008

Welcome to a shiny new week.

For our U.S. friends, we wish you a happy Memorial Day holiday today.

Now, down to business.

The “reader” came out later today as we wanted to reserve the space until our friend Philip sent us his Memorial Day message. He always delivers a great one.

The Memorial Days of Your Life

by Philip Humbert

This is our Memorial Day Weekend, a time traditionally set aside to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Liberty and democracy are fragile things and they do not flourish by themselves. They require loving care and, too often, costly sacrifice by those who cherish them. Every day, liberty is under attack by those who would censor our words, our thoughts and our prayers. Every day, freedom is challenged by those--often good, well-intentioned people--who want "order" at the expense of chaotic, inefficient democracy.

We are free people and we can disagree about where, and when, and how we should defend freedom, but we are only free because brave men and women have resisted tyranny. In honor of those who died on 9/11, and to those who have sacrificed in the past and are continuing to sacrifice every single day so we can enjoy our holidays, have our picnics, and have our debates: Thank you.

And now I want to make a tricky intellectual "pivot" and turn from talking about honoring those who fought for our freedoms, and talk about how we build our own lives, and the "Memorial Days" that signify our progress. Clearly, we must first acknowledge Memorial Day the way it was intended and honor those who have given their lives for our freedom, but we honor them most by USING our freedom, not merely luxuriating in it.

I'm going to make a strong, blunt statement that may offend some, but here goes: I believe too many of us (around the world, not only in the U.S.) have grown flabby and lazy. We enjoy our freedoms, our wealth and our opportunities, but we also squander them.Too often we use our freedom to become consummate consumers, rather that expert builders. Too often we use our freedom to complain rather than to create.

Too often we use our wealth and our power to become couch potatoes and channel-surfers rather than pursuing our potential and exploring the limits of possibility.As you celebrate this national Memorial Day, I encourage you to note the key Memorial Dates in your own life.

As you look back, do you mark the date you graduated, or the date you launched your business? Do you mark the date you set your own course, perhaps the day you risked it all for your dreams?

On a warm, sunny day in July, 1984, a friend and I reached the summit of Mt. Blanca, a 14,110-foot mountain in Colorado and as we enjoyed the view, I knew we would climb many mountains together. I didn't ask Mary to become my life partner for two more years, but that day on that mountain is one of my "Memorial Days." I remember it well. The view, the struggle to the summit and the partnership we forged that day changed my life forever.

I remember a blustery, rainy day on December 12, 1997. That was the day I turned in my keys and walked away from the clinic I had built. I'd sold it earlier, but agreed to stay until the end of the year, and on that Friday afternoon, I launched a new direction. It is one of my Memorial Days.

How about you? What are your personal Memorial Days? Have you used your freedoms, your talent, your dreams and abilities to create the life you want? Some dates are specific and easy to recall, others may not have seemed special but in retrospect, we know they were turning points. We all have these Memorial Days and they are important.

Honor them. Honor yourself! Freedom and opportunity only exist if they are used! And more than that, one of the ways we fuel our dreams and empower the future is by "borrowing" confidence, courage and momentum from the past. Celebrate your achievements and use them to know, deep inside, that you can boldly go wherever your wish in the future.

Go climb some big mountains!