THE FILTERS OF PERCEPTION

Rumi once said, “We are both the mirror and the face in the mirror.”

When we speak the language of the universe—and by that I mean feelings, beliefs, and convictions—what we believe becomes the blueprint for everything we experience in life: healing our bodies, our relationships (including romantic ones), and our careers. We speak that language continuously; it never stops. Once we are conscious, creating or manifesting is a constant dynamic.

Sometimes that inner dialogue is subtle, sometimes not at all. In a reflective universe, both our challenges and our joys are nothing more than a reflection of our deepest beliefs. The mirrors we encounter in other people or situations are often the most difficult to accept. That is precisely where it is worth pausing to reflect.

Through our perceptual filters, we try to give meaning to our relationships with others—friendships, work, money matters, and health—within the framework of what previous experiences have taught us. This is how predictability creeps into our lives. It also happens that we say or do things because we have adopted them from others, rather than because they are truly our own. This gives us a sense of comfort and security.

As long as we are in the vicinity of people, places, or things we know, we generally feel better. Your living room is yours; you feel at home there. In a hotel room, no matter how beautiful or luxurious, you usually don't experience that feeling. Your energy is not present there. A hotel carries the energy of many people who have gone before you. No matter how beautiful the interior is, it does not “resonate.”

We resonate with our car, our house, and even with the devices we use every day. We ourselves also resonate: we have a frequency. As a result, simply by being present, we influence other people and our environment. Logically, you could say that when you change something within yourself, that change also becomes noticeable around you—and is noticed by others.

These are the mirrors Rumi referred to. If the universe reflects our beliefs, emotions, and inner truths in all kinds of ways, then we are presented with mirrors every day in everything we relate to — right down to our deepest Self.

Our personal mirrors expose our deepest beliefs. And sometimes it is confronting to come face to face with them. The underlying pattern is often fear, a force with many masks within our culture. We encounter it every day, sometimes so subtly that we don't even recognize it: in our bodies, in our intimate relationships, in everything. These are our daily triggers, and they have an origin.

When you ask people about their negative experiences, you often hear stories about their parents: cold, jealous, critical, strict, unfair, controlling, judgmental, angry... All of this is anchored in the collective memory of the consciousness in which we live. You could call it a universal fear. That is why we have become so adept at wearing masks — to make it bearable and socially acceptable. In this way, we forget our pain, which has been dormant for a long time but is activated again and again by our mirrors.

We all know these fears: the fear of separation, of being abandoned, of low self-esteem and mistrust. These are the core fears.

Go back in time to your childhood and discover what the generation you are the product of looked like.