The Eye of the Beholder

Colette Baron-Reid

From the guide:

Examine your perceptions. Do you see the world as perfect and beautiful? Can you retrace your steps from your past to now and see the perfection in the way reality has been created? Truly, perception is everything. The Eyes of Beauty remind you that if you move forward with conviction, all is well now and always will be. You will see true prosperity as a result. Expect to see beauty and you will attract prosperity as a result. Expect to see beauty and you will attract your highest good.

There's a commonly used phrase that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." If that's as true as we claim, then everything is in the eye of the beholder ~ beauty, grace, joy; and, of course, their opposites. Our perception is the most significant decision-maker for us. We have choice as to how we see people or situations we encounter. 

The other day I saw a friend I hadn't seen for awhile. He was rubbing his eyes, his head down, his face looking solemn and kind of scrunched up. I said, "Tired?" He picked up his head, looked at me and said in a mock hurt tone, "Thanks. Do I look that bad?" I explained why I thought he was looking tired. His response was that it was allergies making him rub his eyes. The remainder of his appearance was part of the reaction to the allergen. 

What a lesson! What I'd intended as a comment of sympathy turned into a misconception. I realized that it was my interpretation of what I saw. That gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate how I see things, how I interpret what I see, and my choice in how I react.

What story do you have of your own misperception? How did you handle it? What did you learn from it?