In the Facebook group I recently joined, Transition Talk with Wendy and James, the “thought for the day,” which I believe we’ll be discussing in Thursday night’s Zoom meeting, is “Are the obstacles to your dreams real or your perceptions?” Ever the A-student, I wanted to blog about this to get my thoughts in order before the meeting and discussion.
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately, the whole notion that the only thing we really have control over is how we respond or react to stimuli. We can’t change the stimulus (sometimes an obstacle), but we can change how we think about and react to it (or not). If our perception is our reality, but we can exercise some control over our perception, then we can change our reality. So, the concept of obstacles as being either real or perceived is a conundrum akin to the proverbial “chicken/egg” scenario.
Whether real or perceived, obstacles can be overcome in order to realize a dream. And, for that matter, dreams aren’t static—they, too, can change; or, rather, our perceptions of them can change as we navigate our own realities. Before I get too philosophical or esoteric here, the bottom line, I think, is that in order to realize our dreams and effect change in our lives, we must practice and exert control over how we think, or in the words of Wayne Dyer, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Not everything in life can be distilled down to a quippy little meme, but this one sure does make a lot of sense. It’s no simple matter to change the way you look at or think about things. On the contrary, it takes a lot of discipline, focus, and perseverance. But I think if you can do it, those “obstacles,” whether real or perceived, can become opportunities that can lead to new and different dreams. As an example of this, check out one of my first posts on this blog, “Day at the Beach.” I am still very much learning how to control my way of thinking about and responding to things, but I’m getting there.
This is definitely one of the posts I will come back to periodically because it bears reminding of, especially when obstacles present themselves. For example, today (Sunday 9/5/21) Eric wants to go to a big Greek Festival that is going on here in Long Beach, and the prospect of that terrifies me. We went to a Greek Fest back in MA a few years ago, and another one back in Chicago several years ago, and he absolutely loves them. Me, not so much. Sure, I had a pleasant time, ate some decent food, and got to spend some quality time with my husband, but even pre-transition I could never stand large crowds of people. Now it's even worse because, despite my best efforts, I constantly feel like a moving target these days, and crowds amplify that feeling by orders of magnitude. But, if I'm being true to my post above and the idea of changing how I look at things so the things I look at can change, I have to look at this Greek Fest (and other instances of crowds) as an opportunity to act on my vision/mission to let others in, and let my inner glow shine through. Where better to do that than in a crowd of strangers? So what if they judge... I'll never seem them again. So what if they snicker at me... maybe I do look a little funny, or maybe they're just expressing joy in witnessing another human live their authentic life. I need to let go of my fears, embrace the unknown, find beauty and humor in challenging situations, and live my life. I will make every effort to do that today, and will post about it later...
ReplyDeleteOkay, well, as we enjoy our Sunday morning coffee, Eric just decided that he no longer wants to go to the Greek Fest because his stomach isn't feeling very well. Instead, we'll enjoy a quiet day at home on this long Labor Day weekend, and I am just fine with that. I have no doubt that another crowd-related obstacle will present itself soon enough, and will blog about it then...
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