The impact of perception Insight #2

[srinrao]

One of the other areas that I’ve noticed perception having one its greatest impacts is in the area of judgment. By human nature, we are all judgmental, whether we want to believe it or not. We pass judgment subconsciously. Next time you are walking down the street and see a homeless person, just be aware of what you think about that person. You might not say it out loud, you might not even really have anything negative to say, but you do pass some sort of judgment. That judgment is exactly what creates your perception of that person.

I’m sure you have experience a time in your life when somebody you thought you couldn’t stand ended up being a good friend in the long run. My current roommate and I were not friends when we first started school. He is from India, as am I, but I have been raised entirely outside of India, so I don’t identify with it nearly as much. My own judgment of thinking, “these guys from India are not cool, and I don’t want to hang out with them” made me miss out on an entire year of business school in which I could have had a great friendship with my current roommate and the other foreign students from India. When I finally did hang out with them at the end of last year, it turned out to be one of the best nights of going out I ever had.

In Lamar Smiths’ book, There’s more to Life than the Corner Office, he mentions that everybody has some inherent value. It really is not our place to judge somebody’s actions, decisions, and behavior. Thus, if we can start to See the Gift in Everyone, it tends to alter our perception and send out more positive energy into the Universe.