What You See May Not Really Be There

Andy is a typical early riser. Meaning he is usually up, dressed and sitting at the desk in his office by around seven every morning. Which causes him to see the sun began to filter cautiously thru the blinds and get stronger as morning passes. One such morning, he glanced at the window and thought, “Huh, sure seems awfully hazy and cloudy to be the gorgeous day the weatherman predicted. Hopefully, maybe those clouds will get burned off by the sun, ‘cause we sure need it today.”

An hour later, as he was getting ready to leave the house, he looked out again and noticed that the weather outside still had a distinct haze. Then it dawned on his early morning brain. “That’s not clouds or fog, it’s plastic sheeting, dummy!”

He had forgotten that some exterior painting was being done, and the windows had been carefully protected by the workers. What he was seeing as a gray, overcast, and hazy day was actually nothing but thick plastic. On the other side of the window painters were cheerfully working, surrounded by sunshine and warmth. Good thing he hadn’t thrown on his raincoat and walked out among them, looking like he was ready for a monsoon. Those painters would have probably rolled their eyes and understandably demanded full pre-payment for their work from Mr. Looneytunes – right then and there.

Sounds suspiciously like looking at life from where each of us sit. Perspective. I may see a dark, rainy day as gloom and doom – while you may view it from your perspective as wonderful, glorious, life-giving water falling from the sky on your tomato plants.

Each of us look at today thru the lens of our past. Here is an example of what I mean.

Two separate strangers move to the same town and each attends their first public meeting since arriving. One looks forward to quickly making new friends, that is his norm. The other – always being a quiet loner- dreads interacting with so many strangers.

Therefore, because of past experiences, they walk into that room with preconceived ideas of the outcome. And guess what? Many times, they will have predicted themselves into exactly what happens. Why? Pretty easy to understand. One is open and approachable, expecting to be welcomed. The other man finds that the meeting fulfills exactly what he anticipated.

On the ‘other side of that window’ are the townsfolk in the meeting. They meet one newbie who is gregarious and sociable, ready to be involved. The other newbie is more reserved and slower to interact. Honestly, who do you think they are going to readily befriend?

No one at fault, no one to blame. Just simply the view each person has from a window – which has a covering over it. A covering called ‘past experiences.”

Maybe we need to realize there is always two sides to that window where we view people.