Happiness is Based on Perception
And then you have that other friend who lives the most simple life, owns minimal stuff, has just a small handful of close friends and yet they are always grateful and happy?
What is the difference between them?
Their perceptions. What we think creates our reality.
If we think we don’t have enough, we will never have enough. If we think we’re unhappy, we will stay unhappy. If we search for the bad in situations, we will find just that. If we search for the good, we will find that too.
If we think we don’t have enough, we will never have enough. If we think we’re unhappy, we will stay unhappy. If we search for the bad in situations, we will find just that. If we search for the good, we will find that too.
So what makes one person’s perception that of never having enough when they have “everything” and another person think they have more than they could ever need when they have minimal?
Well it has to do with subconscious beliefs and programming we learned growing up through conditioning and our primal need for survival. You see roughly only 5% of our thoughts are conscious. The other 95% are subconscious. Our subconscious programming runs like a tape playing over and over in the background of our minds. It influences everything from self worth to habits to how we regulate our emotions. Our subconscious is a pretty big deal.
So how do we go from living from our subconscious to being more conscious?
Awareness. It all starts with becoming aware of what we’re thinking without judgment. Next, meditation and tapping into our higher self will also help to start to reprogram any undesired unconscious belief we may have- i.e. self limiting beliefs like unworthiness or deep rooted insecurities.
Well it has to do with subconscious beliefs and programming we learned growing up through conditioning and our primal need for survival. You see roughly only 5% of our thoughts are conscious. The other 95% are subconscious. Our subconscious programming runs like a tape playing over and over in the background of our minds. It influences everything from self worth to habits to how we regulate our emotions. Our subconscious is a pretty big deal.
So how do we go from living from our subconscious to being more conscious?
Awareness. It all starts with becoming aware of what we’re thinking without judgment. Next, meditation and tapping into our higher self will also help to start to reprogram any undesired unconscious belief we may have- i.e. self limiting beliefs like unworthiness or deep rooted insecurities.
One of my favorite stories of all time about perception is about the fisherman and the businessman- I go back to it all the time when I feel a sense of “not enough” which for me is a ruling subconscious belief. Then I go straight into giving thanks for all that I have.
There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite a few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”
The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman. “I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”
The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”
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