Forgotten Realizations

There are many things in life that we know are true, yet we tend to forget these realizations. Oftentimes we make assumptions about people and the world that we live in because we are taking our own past experiences and the way they have shaped our minds to interpret what we see. This is very detrimental!

As we know, looks can be very deceiving, and often what we believe to be true in our minds ends up being quite the opposite. How many times have you thought you were 100% sure of a situation only for it to turn out completely different than it looked? How many times have you assumed something about someone, and it ended up being far from the truth?

When we assume something about a certain situation or person, we are looking at the surface level and not what is deep within, we don’t know the facts, but our minds create an entire story that we believe to be true. Although natural, this is very detrimental, because we think what we see is what it is.

A lot of how we view the world and the people in it depends on our past, so as we go through life and encounter situations and other individuals that feel similar to what we have already experienced, we naturally apply this to the present. Assumptions are very dangerous, especially in relationships, as much as we think we know about someone or something, it is many times not true despite how it looks. It’s very important to get all of the facts before we move forward.

How many times have you felt like someone didn’t like you, but it turned out that they are just very shy? How many times did you feel like your significant other was straying from the relationship only to find out that they needed some alone time to regroup from a stressful month at work? How often did you go to an interview and felt that you blew it only to find out that you got the job?

Each of us perceives this world very differently. You can put two people through the same situation and they will have a very different experience. When we are dealing with a situation or other individuals, as hard as it is, we must look at things based on fact and evidence vs. what we feel in our minds to be true.

I went to the store recently and one of my favorite employees was there. He is so friendly, always striking up a conversation, he has great energy, and he seems to truly love what he does for a living. Every time that I see this employee, I am greeted with a smile, he is so upbeat, happy, and friendly.

I asked him how he was doing and he told me that he was hanging in there, he was exhausted from putting so many hours in at work. Had he not told me this, I would have looked at how he presented himself outwardly and thought that he was feeling great and full of energy. He wanted his customers to feel welcomed and cared for. Looks are deceiving.

The biggest way to overcome instantly thinking that we know about something is to ask questions. Our minds have a way of tricking us; we see what we see, but what we see is not always how it truly is.