Time for a Revolution in Perception
May. 13th, 2011 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerHabits... how much of our relationships are built on habits? Do we always pick on the same person? treat certain people with admiration? fear the same people? label the same people as cool? uncool? geek? clown? intellectual? How many of our interactions are based on a history that turns perception into assumption and then expectation.
I think humans are only human. We get used to treating someone a certain way and don't understand a shift in dynamics when it occurs. We see the the kid that always gets picked who later seems to attract mockery. Or how we identify the "smart kid" and even if they are spouting average information, we are inclined to think that they are smart.
At what point do we internalize the external perception placed on us by others? Do we rise and/or fall to fullfill expectations? What do we have to go through to change the internalized belief? What if I don't want to be the class clown? or the "bad influence"?
And once we change on the inside, how do we change the perception of others?
What changes us? An awakening. A life changing event. And how do we recognize it in someone else? Especially since as adults we tend to think we are wiser, but maybe we are really just more set in our ways and less likely to recognize change when it's in our faces.
Suppose the class wimp becomes, like the Karate Kid, an ass-kicking superstar? What if you don't do karate and didn't know there was a tournament, how will you recognize the change? You won't unless you were the one stealing his lunch money and then it will be when your face connects with the ground and you don't remember being thrown to the floor. That would be a clue. And if you were nearby when the lunch money was being taken and see the ass-kicking, that would be a clue. Other than that, your chance to change your perception might only happen if you heard about the tournament or the bully smack-down.
Change is good. We should reinvent ourselves every so often. My dusty memory seems to recall that Ben Franklin (or some other intellectual who was important) indicated that we should have a revolution in the US on some routine basis. (Was it every 100 years?) I don't recall the details with my Swiss cheese memory, but conceptually it's good to shake up expectations and juice the brain into thinking new thoughts and questioning perceptions.
In other words, suck it up, Cupcake. Buy a clue or your face will meet the pavement.
I think humans are only human. We get used to treating someone a certain way and don't understand a shift in dynamics when it occurs. We see the the kid that always gets picked who later seems to attract mockery. Or how we identify the "smart kid" and even if they are spouting average information, we are inclined to think that they are smart.
At what point do we internalize the external perception placed on us by others? Do we rise and/or fall to fullfill expectations? What do we have to go through to change the internalized belief? What if I don't want to be the class clown? or the "bad influence"?
And once we change on the inside, how do we change the perception of others?
What changes us? An awakening. A life changing event. And how do we recognize it in someone else? Especially since as adults we tend to think we are wiser, but maybe we are really just more set in our ways and less likely to recognize change when it's in our faces.
Suppose the class wimp becomes, like the Karate Kid, an ass-kicking superstar? What if you don't do karate and didn't know there was a tournament, how will you recognize the change? You won't unless you were the one stealing his lunch money and then it will be when your face connects with the ground and you don't remember being thrown to the floor. That would be a clue. And if you were nearby when the lunch money was being taken and see the ass-kicking, that would be a clue. Other than that, your chance to change your perception might only happen if you heard about the tournament or the bully smack-down.
Change is good. We should reinvent ourselves every so often. My dusty memory seems to recall that Ben Franklin (or some other intellectual who was important) indicated that we should have a revolution in the US on some routine basis. (Was it every 100 years?) I don't recall the details with my Swiss cheese memory, but conceptually it's good to shake up expectations and juice the brain into thinking new thoughts and questioning perceptions.
In other words, suck it up, Cupcake. Buy a clue or your face will meet the pavement.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 03:52 am (UTC)When we are kids, our parents pass their strategies and coping methods to us. The schools try to pass on the skills and habits that will make us useful in the workforce. College supposedly gives us a set of ideas to survive and motivate ourselves to solve work, relationships and help us set ourselves a reasonable course for a while. Middle age and kids make us reset our lives again, and keep adjusting for the next 20 years, and then we can contemplate our mortality and retirement. This still leaves plenty of time to change careers every 4 years, have a divorce, or a health scare, and spinkle around some time to bury the previous generation.
Right now our jobs aren't supposed to last longer than 4 years, and that extra chaos has made our home lives less stable. It is certainly not what we 40 and 50 somethings were trained to expect.
When you look at all the major events that get thrown at us, It's a miracle that some people can manage to hang onto each other long enough to raise the kids.
I guess for me, the challenge is to manage change so that it is not disorienting, but still allows the air and light in.
sorry, ranting now.... going back to the garage....
no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 05:27 am (UTC)