THOUGHTS ON PERCEPTION

 

Here's some insight on perception (the way we see ourselves, others, issues, situations or life in general) and its direct relationship with how we communicate. Now the critical element for me is how our perceptions about ourselves and about others are formed (although it is typically an unconscious process).

But perhaps we can be more conscious or self aware of this and begin to ask ourselves prodding questions such as: "Why am I thinking this way? Why do I feel this way about this issue? Am I interpreting or have I interpreted a person's words or actions wrongly, different from what it really could mean? Am I mistaken? Is this the fact or my interpretation of the fact? Why do I think this is the fact? Have I considered other possible scenarios? Can I listen to other viewpoints to identify any blind spots I may be having on this issue? Am I being blinded by an emotion such as anger, pride or fear? Is there a trusted person whose opinions and insights I can ask for? What is my perception about myself, the other person or a situation based upon? Is it based on information gathered from a detailed evaluation or just a quick-look assessment? Is it from personal prejudices about certain things? Is it from environmental conditioning? Is it from hearsay or a reported speech? Is it the effect of past experiences, notional expectations or societal stereotypes? Do I have a possible underlying bias? Have I second-guessed? How have I verified my notions? Is it based on my intuition? What are the facts?"

I say we should test and question our perceptions for validity as much as possible. Perceptions will never really be perfect but perhaps they can be managed and possibly updated with intentional questioning, better communication and open-minded engagement that enhance our understanding of different people or situations and our appreciation of different viewpoints. Sometimes life's experiences can even change our whole paradigm on a particular issue. Sometimes a closer encounter can modify our perceptions about a person. All this reminds me of a quote from Stephen Covey: "We see the world, not as it is, but as we are, or as we have been conditioned to see it."

To conclude, we may never see things from the same perspective, we may never have the same opinions about certain things, and we may never have accurate interpretations of other people but we can "choose" to accept that there will be those differences in perspectives, opinions, needs and preferences, as much as we crave for similarities in values and beliefs. We need to mentally factor in a margin of tolerance and acceptance. We need to communicate and demonstrate our sincerity of purpose and determination for peaceful coexistence hinged on mutual respect. We need to realize that a team can do even better when it is blessed with a diversity of capabilities and ideas, and when it has learned to leverage its power of 'unity-in-diversity', understanding that: "unity is not uniformity".