Don’t Believe Everything you See

You Mind plays emotional tricks as it tries to give easy labels to life.

There’s a wonderful commercial showing a beautiful beach in all it’s warm, wave lapping splendor. Then the camera pans back to reveal piles of junk to the left and right. This Paradise is a dumping ground, except for the part the camera sees. Then there’s the ‘Like’ button that gets hit so fast when it touches our emotional heartstrings. Without playing the sound, we see a baby elephant, jumping in the surf as it views an ocean for the first time. That’s all about your first leap into the waves telling you that this baby must be having fun. Sound reveals some guy hollering at baby every time she tries to come out. What are those bruises on her head? Where’s her mother??? My thought was that the salt water had to burn her trunk and mouth. Abuse for the sake of making money off the tourists? First thoughts are often way off base.

We do this all the time. When we had thoughts of relocating to Santa Fe, we found gorgeous, although expensive homes for sale online. Our imagination put these close to million dollar homes on hilltops, overlooking pastures and mountains. A satellite image proved us so wrong!! Without zoning, this home had a huge company parking lot for a neighbor, bright lights and all, along with multiple warehouse buildings. No romance there!

We really have to stop superficially ‘looking’ at things that cross our path, and pause to ‘see’ consciously what is right before our eyes. It’s seeing deeper with eyes of an artist of life. Paying attention to all of life around us, not making judgement calls on anyone until all the facts are in, and labeling nothing until we experience it ourselves, would change the world, one little section at a time. Start with your patch of Earth.