The 365 Commitment

Day 113 – Reality

I have only one thought to share this morning, and that is regarding a difficult concept of dealing with reality. Sometimes we are forced to. Our circumstances change, we have a sudden and dramatic change to our lives that forces us to cope with the reality of our situation. I think it is tough to have reality forced on you, I think it is harder to force yourself to see reality.

I think we as humans are very good at lying to ourselves. Well maybe lie is a harsh concept, perhaps we are really good at filtering reality to make sure it comes across as supporting our ego and the way we choose to view the world. By the way, this is not a bad thing. I think this pattern of human filtering reality is very necessary for our survival and the building of our personalities even. Call them coping skills, or whatever, the point is that we have a method of filtering reality that is beneficial to us.

I think, however, it is important to take a step back and question reality as I am seeing it. Do I really see the situation around me the way it is? Or have I kept ignoring a problem, challenge or issue so much that I have gotten good at sidestepping that unfortunate part of my reality? Probably one of the hardest things to do is to actually ask another person to weigh in and help describe your reality and see if it is close to the way you see things.

Your reaction, if there is a discrepancy, will be anger or annoyance. I have always had this relationship with my wife – where she will give me a dose of reality now and then. A perspective on my reality that I really do not want to hear – but I know it is the truth. I think this is why a marriage can be such a powerful part of your life. When you have someone that can give you that reality check, without fear of consequence, you have something very valuable indeed. The hard part is listening and accepting that you may be modifying your reality and lying to yourself!

I have been really pondering lately, as you can probably tell by the topics of the blogs recently. I think this is good, maybe boring to read, but good for me. My 365 List has some time for reflecting on the reality of my situation today.

Guy Reams (113)
365 Member

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