How your Beliefs and Concerns Affect your Perception

• Do you think your perception doesn’t get affected by your thoughts?
• Do you believe that you see things the way they are?

Suppose you had these beliefs, then it’s time to think twice. Contrary to common beliefs, we don’t see things the way they are, but we interpret what we see according to our belief system.

During this interpretation process, modification, deletion, and distortion of data happen so that the information that gets stored in a person’s mind might be completely different from reality.

How your beliefs and concerns affect your perception

Here are few examples of the modification of data that happens while processing information:

• Discarding facts: If you fear dogs or if you think that dogs are evil, then most probably, your mind will drop any evidence that shows that dogs might be friendly. If, for example, you saw an older man being guided by his loyal dog, then most probably you will forget about that scene a soon as they move away from your sight. In other words, we delete the data that we don’t want to believe just because it doesn’t match our internal belief system.
• Seeing what doesn’t exist: Many of the women who fear cats get terrified when they see any object that looks like a cat only to discover that its a bag or anything else. When you become concerned about something, because you are afraid of it or because of any other reason, then most probably you will see that thing even if it doesn’t exist. Do you know any person who saw a ghost before? Ask him whether he fears ghosts or not, and you will discover that the only people who see ghosts are the ones who fear them.
• Focusing on the wrong things: Do you know why people who lack confidence keep feeling worse? It’s because they focus on collecting the wrong information then keep reinforcing their incorrect beliefs. People who believe that they have a certain defect keep strengthening that belief by focusing on the wrong evidence. If, for example, someone looking at a person who lacked confidence in a way that the latter didn’t understand, then he will quickly assume that the other person was looking down on him.

Why you should have a rock-solid confidence

All the people you know without exceptions fall in these traps, even the ones who seem so smart. Many of the people who put you down do that because they had a distorted reception of reality.

If a person believed that no one could succeed, he would never remember anything by the cases of failure he heard of, and as a result, he will put you down whenever you try to do something differently.

People see things that don’t exist,
They stick to their beliefs even when they know that they are wrong,
They distort facts to make sure they match their beliefs

• How come you follow the crowd blindly?
• How come you let blind people guide you?
• How come you feel down when people put you down?

Let me tell you something that very few people will tell you: Most people are misguided by incorrect beliefs, unhappy with their lives, and clueless about their direction in life.

Does it make any sense to listen to them?
Focus on your goals like a laser beam, and you will get what you want in life. Just keep moving forward and don’t listen to those who have a distorted perception of the world.