What you see is what you get
What you choose to look at determines what you will see.
I know, that sounds profound. Or maybe it doesn’t. It all depends on how you look at it. Irony.
But the gist is this—if you’re focusing all your attention on negative things, you’ll tend to see the world in a negative light. If you’re focused on angry Tweets and scary news stories and violent YouTube videos, then the world you see will reflect those things back to you. The hologram of the universe that you carry in your head will be a very dark, foreboding, miserable place. From your point of view, everything is always turning out awful.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for the good in people, looking for opportunities, looking for examples of kindness and love and positive thinking, then that becomes your filter. Even when things go wrong, you’re more likely to be optimistic, to look for the good that can come out of it. From your point of view, everything is always working out for you.
“What you choose to look at determines what you will see. ”
These are two diametrically opposed points of view, but the key word in the opening statement of this post is “choose.” You are the one who gets to decide what kind of filter you’re going to wear in your daily life. You either put on the dark and cloudy lenses, or you pull on the rose-colored glasses. It’s up to you.
And that means you are the one responsible for your experience, and for your outcomes.
Some people hate that (guess which point of view they typically have). They can’t stand the thought that it’s them who determines what the quality of their life will be like. They want to blame someone else, or something else, for the sorry state they’re in. Everything is awful, and they have no choice in how they see any of it.
Other people get the truth of this by instinct. They see that if they're the one ultimately responsible for the choices then they’re the one in control of the quality of their experience. They’re better off choosing to look for good things in the world around them. Focus on what’s good, what’s pure, what’s right, what’s loving—focus on finding resources and opportunities instead of always grousing about what you lack. That’s up to you. All of it.
Or not. Maybe the universe is just happening to you instead of for you. That’s one way to look at it.
What are you going to choose to look at in your life? What is it that you want to see?
If you like this post, there’s a blog full of this kind of stuff. And Side Notes is basically an extension of my Note at the End, which you’ll find in all of my novels. And you can find those by clicking here. Share this post with your friends, if you found it helpful. And buy my books if you’d like to support me and my work!
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