Forming our reality
- Bree Tivendale
- Sep 13, 2017
- 3 min read
During my lazy afternoon today I found myself watching yet another TED Talk. This was by a man named Issac Lidsky, and the title "What reality are you creating for yourself". I was drawn to this video from a conversion I had based on miscommunication with a friend.
We very often have disagreements based on one or both of us not understanding what the other has meant. To me, obviously, I feel as though what I hear and understand that person to have said is correct. However they also feel the same way. It often happens that we do not understand how the other person could not have understood what we had intended them to hear. My self and my friend have talked about this. One point that came up was that everyone creates their own reality. They think differently and join thoughts, emotions, memories (etc.) together differently in their brain. This affects how our brain interprets sounds, sights language, and every stimuli we receive. My friend made the point that, what I had thought he had meant was not incorrect , it was 100% true to me... in my reality.
At the time I had no idea what he meant, and I'm still not fully sure I've gathered enough thoughts on it to truely appreciate what he was trying to say. This conversation did however lead me to this TEDtalk on how we create our realities.
Issac brings up a ridiculous amount of food for thought through his 11min talk. What stuck out to me the most was that we should challenge ourselves to consciously consider all aspects of our thoughts. Issac talks mostly about how we construct our reality in relation to sight.
"What we see is a unique, personal, virtual reality that is masterfully constructed by our brain... Your brain references your conceptual understandings of the world, other knowledge, other memories, opinions emotions.."
He talks about how our brain uses these past references and stimuli to actually change what we are seeing. He says:
"What you see impacts how you feel, and what you feel can literally change what you see".
He uses examples of studies that include one that proves that if you've just done exercise you will actually see a hill as being steeper, and if you are wearing a heavy pack you will actually see the landmark as being further away! This doesn't make what you are seeing false, in you're reality it is 100% true.
"You create your own reality, and you believe it",
This line stuck out to me. You create your own reality. WE, each of us, are creating our own realities. Everything we perceive is specific to us. To me this means we have so much power of what we feel and do, how we interact with the world and how it interacts with us. To me this can be so empowering. I feel as though this thought about how we create our realities could be such a fantastic conversation starter for around the fire on camp, or even something to ponder on a long hike. What 'truths' are you receiving passively, without a second thought. Is that hill really that far away, or is it just your sore feet and low mood having an effect on what your brain is delivering to you. How far away does it feel to other people around you? Or people who were walking it on a different day when the weather was rainy/sunny. Is there some way you could change your perceptions to change your view, to change your truth and reality?
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