Perceptions and Misinformation

 

(from medicaldaily .com)

The way I saw it then must be completely different from the way I look at it now. I’ve changed glasses so many times, each pair with new lenses. Aging will do that to you.

Perhaps, as we get older, forgetfulness can be a blessing. I don’t think I really remember how things came together and fell apart in my childhood. That was so very long ago.

How a child understands, and processes things varies with the world they see and how they see it, sometimes based on how they are told to see things. It’s crazy to think that sometimes we process what we’re seeing through the lens of how we think we’re supposed to see it because that’s how we are told it works.

Maybe it was unintentional, perhaps we just overheard something or picked it up from a television show, or even in a song like, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – a classic song we can still hear echo through our minds.

Or maybe we have vivid memories of hearing the phrase, “Do you want me to give you something to cry about?”

Maybe we recall a scene from a movie where we saw a girl painfully stifling her tears, insisting that she cannot show weakness, vowing she’ll “never let them see her cry”.

(from parentingwithunderstanding .com)

We may not even remember where we learned some of the silly notions we still keep filed away in our minds.

Ideas such as these may have taught us that tears equate to weakness (which is so far from the truth it’s mindboggling).

We may also have learned that it’s prudent not to cry, or that people like us better when we don’t cry.

It’s easy for busy and distracted adults to, intentionally or not, manipulate young children, especially those who are too eager to please those around them. Children often learn to do this to each other, as well, most likely not realizing what they’re doing – but that it somehow makes their lives “easier”.

There are outcomes to falling for something that isn’t true. Sometimes they’re unintended consequences. Other times, they are very intentional plots of deception.

For example, as manipulated children become adults, we’re often trapped in the mindset that pleasing others is more important than learning to establish healthy boundaries.  The very people who helped solidify those dominating thoughts and feelings certainly have no healthy boundaries of their own, whether they realize it or not.

No doubt, I’ve mentioned that I often find myself exploring “the lies we believe”. It fascinates and frustrates me that our minds can believe things that we should or could know are not true, or that we decide that something is true based on a lie or misinformation.

(from linkedin .com)

Big girls do cry.

It can be fear, pride or stubborn determination that keeps us from showing weakness or vulnerability.

It may make us “easier to deal with” when we don’t cry, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to cry under any circumstances.

There are plenty of great reasons to cry, whether they’re tears of joy or tears of sorrow.

Tears have much value.

“…You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” – Psalm 56:9 NLT

Crying is just the example I’ve used to make my point. I could have used a myriad of other examples.

(from stir.ac.uk)

My point to ponder today is this, what are we believing that isn’t actually true?

While we grow up and mature, we uncover some of these things incidentally. But to discover others, we must purposefully look.

What examples can you share?

(from youtube .com)