Through what filter do you view the world?

Written on July 23, 2012 by Kaarina in Motivational and Inspirational, Musings

Through what filter do you view the world?With all that’s been happening in the world lately, it’s not unreasonable that many people are viewing the world as a dark and dangerous place.

The pain, anguish and laments are literally like the “shot heard round the world.”

And although our collective heart can break when we learn of events that are unjust, heinous and unimaginable, it’s important to realize that we are the ones holding the filter through which we see our world.

If I always wear blue lenses, and you always wear green lenses, I will believe the world is blue, and you will believe the world is green.

Who’s right?

Who’s wrong?

And if we switch lenses…then what?

And what if we remove the lenses entirely?

It is tempting to believe that the world is a dark and dangerous place when dark and dangerous things happen.

If that is happening for you right now, please stop.

Change the filter. Change the lens.

Nothing can be gained from allowing random, senseless acts to become the lens through which you view the world.

Today, allow whatever is troubling you to wash over and through you, and let it go.

You might resist.

You might say you “can’t”.

You can.

The one thing you are 100% in control of is your thoughts.

You choose your thoughts, every single day…every single moment.

Choosing thoughts that cause you pain and hold you back are like repeatedly ripping the scab off a wound, never allowing healing to take place.

Choosing thoughts that permit a glance at the pain but a focus on the moment’s possibilities will allow you to change the lens to move forward.

Pain, challenge, difficulty and injustice are part of life. But holding onto those things, and believing that they are what the world is all about creates a world of self-imposed imprisonment.

What lens do you choose to view the world?

 

  • http://twitter.com/bdorman264 Bill Dorman

    Rose c0lored glasses baby……….:). I’m definitely a glass half-full kind of guy. However, my concern as more and more ’bad’ things happen we become desensitized and the line keeps moving on what is acceptable.  

    Video games, movies, who know what on the internet, is here. There is no going back at this point. What that means, who knows, but just know the ‘bad’ will always be a part of our culture and you can’t let it control or dictate how you live your life. 

    Can’t we all just get along? 

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       I’m with you on the rose coloured glasses @twitter-34985693:disqus , glass half full and full-to-brimming life! And I agree: the more the chalk line moves, the more void is created for more ‘bad’ things to become ‘acceptable’. But not for us, right?!

      That’s why I think it’s so important, especially now, to focus on positive possibilities, see opportunity everywhere, pay-it-forward, spread kindness and NOT buy into the doom and gloom attitude. Yes…we can all just get along. Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://twitter.com/CrossBetsy Betsy Cross

    When really really traumatic stuff happens in your life it touches you in a place that is accessed unknowingly by triggers you don’t go looking for. 
    I think that we have to remember or be aware that if we haven’t experienced that kind of trauma, advice to choose to not to let those experiences affect you is not the real issue.The lens may still show the good and the beautiful, but memories can pop up unexpectedly and threaten to destroy, etc. Sure, you can train your mind to replace thoughts and that really helps, but memories only fade, they never go away.I have a very healthy world view and a few experiences that seriously challenge it…but just for a minute! I’m as cheerful as the next guy, and sometimes even that doesn’t help. BUT…what’s the alternative to choosing your thoughts? Having them dictate the quality of your life is scary! No?

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       You make a good point about memories @twitter-562128902:disqus . And there’s certainly a big difference between putting on what I call the “Pollyanna cheerful face”, and actually feeling, right to the core, that the world is a wonderful place. One is like a mask…a fake it til you make it type of thing, that certainly can work. But by believing to the core that the world is unfair, unjust and ‘bad’ will only bring more of that into one’s frame of reference, filter or lens. Cheers! Kaarina

  • geofflivingston

    This is really important. I read a great piece on gratitude today on Inc, and the need for remembering how lucky we really do have it every day.  Just so important to take the half full glass.  Thank you.

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       Thank you so much @geofflivingston:disqus : great to see you here:) Hope you’ll drop by again…the welcome mat’s always out. Do you have a link to the Inc. article? I’ll head off to find it, but please feel free to share the link here too. Cheers! Kaarina

      • geofflivingston

         I do, it’s here: http://ow.ly/cqZ8u

        • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

           Thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/rdopping Ralph Dopping

    I suppose if you think positively then you invite positive things into your life or you naturally trend toward avoiding negativity. Shouldn’t that  always be the goal or the starting point for anything we do or think? It may just help to adjust when things do go off the rails.

    The thing I have a really tough time with is the sensationalizing of  stories to sell papers, commercials, whatever. The ability of the media to dissect stories and expose the victims and criminals is out of control. Knowing and being aware is plenty for me. I don’t suppose there is any recognizable way to directly affect any of it unless you are personally involved.

    I agree that we need to let go and look at focussing our energies on making positive impact. One such story from last month’s Fast Company showed how a minister in inner city LA was helping serious (gang) offenders to reform and reintegrate into society in a positive way. To me, that’s one way to turn a systemic issue into a positive.

    Great piece. Hey! On a real positive note see you Thursday at SocialMix!

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       That is indeed a positive note @twitter-229922134:disqus : looking forward to seeing you.
      I don’t know if you checked out Gini’s post today http://spinsucks.com/communication/trust-me-im-lying-how-one-person-is-hurting-an-entire-industry/ about the “media manipulator”. Talk about sensationalizing (cough, lying) being seen as OK…not by Spin Sucks or Gini, of course, whose final sentence I’ll quote: “join me in being ethical and shouting from the rooftops, “Spin Sucks!!” Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://twitter.com/adamtoporek Adam Toporek

    Timely message indeed Kaarina. I will add that the world is vying for our attention and it never rests. It is doing its best to direct our focus for us. We must take control of it ourselves, or we will see the world as others wish us to, not as is supportive of our best interests.

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       Great point @twitter-223833082:disqus . When we allow others to think for us, create our “reality” for us and steer our attention in directions not of our own initiation, it’s a very slippery slope. We need to be the directors and conductors of our own focus. Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://www.thejackb.com/ The JackB

    I wear my sunglasses all day and all night long.

  • http://www.theskooloflife.com Srinivas Rao

    Kaarina

    I think about filters through which we view the world quite a bit. I’m not sure why. But I just do.   Our filters create a context. That context in turn creates possibility.  I guess in many ways our thoughts are those filters. 

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       Thanks @srinirao:disqus , so nice to see you here:) Our thoughts definitely create our context and “reality”, so I like the image of changing lenses…to walk in another’s shoes…to view the “reality” through another’s eyes and perspective. Thanks so much for dropping by and chiming in: I appreciate it. Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://newenglandmultimedia.com/ Michelle Quillin

    Like many of your readers here, Kaarina, I’m an optimist who wears rose-colored glasses and sees the glass as half-full, not half-empty. I’ve always been like that, and I refuse to become a cynic, choosing instead to do what I can to change the world. 

    On the other hand, I’ve worked with young people from many different backgrounds for 7 years now, and what I’m seeing in this generation can be discouraging. I’m not sure which way things will go, but what I think about when I get discouraged is the story of the little boy who’s throwing thousands of dying starfish back in the sea, one at a time. When someone tells him that what he’s doing won’t make a difference, the boy looks down at the starfish in his hand and says, “It makes a difference to this one.” 

    People like you are put in my life to remind me of that. 

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       @michellequillin:disqus , you won’t believe this (actually, you will), but if someone were to ask me “who are you?”, I’d answer, I’m the young man from the “Young Man and the Starfish”…it makes a difference to this one. We are definitely kindred spirits, my friend.

      I spent a lot of time, many years back, worrying about the world my children will inherit. Now, I simply do my best to contribute what I can to their world…our world. It’s so much better to do something than to worry about something. I’m so happy we’re in each other’s lives:) Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://twitter.com/RebeccaAmyTodd Rebecca Amy Todd

    Thanks for this Kaarina.  While I do not believe that we can control our initial visceral reactions, we can control how we choose to respond to those feelings. Not always easy, but very possible. 

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       I agree @twitter-257989881:disqus , that all things are possible, and we always choose our actions and responses. Two more sleeps: yay! Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://markharai.com Mark Harai

    I view the world from the inside out; and today, it’s a beautiful day – a day I’m thankful for, a day I’m excited about, a day I will put my best foot forward to make things happen for myself, my family and my friends.

    With the world in flux as it is, there are so many opportunities to help others in need and to help define how business will be done globally, or in our own backyards.  Change is in the air.

    We have the opportunity to write the next chapter in the history of the world and it’s going to be a doozy – so for those with the insight and inclination, jump in – with both feet and get busy!

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       I’m jumping in with you @markharai:disqus , today and every day. It’s a beautiful day every day, when we choose to see it as such. Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://markharai.com Mark Harai

    Oops, GOOD MORNING KAARINA!

    xoxo

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       xoxo back at’cha, my friend:)

  • http://www.late-bloomers.net Barbara Klein

    I got up and the sun was shining, I took the dog out for a walk very early as today the temps will go over 30° C, I enjoyed the cool morning breeze and I am deeply grateful for a promising new day.

    And I will try to keep this in the foreground no matter what happens today in the world. 

    If all of us had this mindset the world would be a better place. 

    I ceased to watch the news and read a daily newspaper, I do not need the negativity and the thrill bad news is obviously causing, if not why is there such an abundance of it? I am not ignoring the course the world is taking but I have chosen my path.

    And if I can contribute something by influencing my surroundings in a positive way – then I am very happy.

    Thank you, Kaarina, ma reine du printemps, for a wonderful and timely post! Have a sunny day! 

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       So good to see you here @BarbaraKlein:disqus , and delighted to hear that you will keep that sunny filter in the foreground:) There is so much ‘bad’ news circulating, because, I guess, ‘bad’ news sells…and is sensational. I think if we collectively acknowledge that ‘bad’ things happen, but focus on all the good that is around us, we can pay-it-forward and add more light to all we encounter. Cheers from your reine du printemps:)

  • http://www.slymarketing.com Jens P. Berget

    Hi Kaarina,

    I have actually been thinking a lot about this lately and for two reasons. 22. July last year something terrible happened in Norway, one man killed 77 young people, and then it was the killing in the US. That’s one thing that got me thinking. 

    But the other thing is that one of my best friends is always positive. She is looking at the world in a completely different way than I am doing (I am not negative at all, but I can get fairly sad when I see what’s happening around me). She is always smiling and seeing the best in every single person. 

    That got me thinking, it’s time to change lenses and be more supportive and more positive. It’s great to be around people with a positive attitude :)

    Great post.

    • http://markharai.com Mark Harai

      The world needs folks who see the things through a proper set of eyes and attitude. It keeps the world in balance…

      You’re passion for writing, marketing and social media insights come through comes  loud and clear in your articles… That’s why I spend the time I do with you (I learn cool stuff too : )

      I see zero sadness when you’re expressing yourself through the pen : )

      I don’t see the sad part; but when you feel this way have you tried writing about it, or just writing?

      Change the lens through your writing; it will come from a good place… right from the center of you : )

      • http://www.slymarketing.com Jens P. Berget

        I’m writing about it, but it’s in my Norwegian novel :)

        • http://markharai.com Mark Harai

          I look forward to reading it… I’m sure parts of it will take me to a tent on the beach : )

    • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

       Yes, @berget:disqus , there are some terrible things happening around us, and I recall how impactful the killings in Norway were, and how they affected people from around the world. That’s why I think it’s even more important today to maintain a spirit of optimism, of possibilities and of genuine love and support.

      A positive attitude is the one to have. I don’t mean we deny that there’s ‘bad’ happening. There is. But if we focus on that, our world becomes a very dark and dangerous place. I say: do what you can, each and every day, to brighten the environment around you, and to add to the lives of those you come into contact with. If we each do our part to pay-it-forward, the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole. Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://lifestoogood.net/ Alan | Life’s Too Good

    Hey Kaarina,

    well put – I probably repeat the phrase ‘we all have our own view of the world’ in one way or another more times than we’ve had hot dinners (and I bet you do too).

    I like the bit about the blue and green glasses – nicely done carefully avoiding the color red ;-)

    Our thoughts do shape our reality, not always easy but the good news is that we have control over them,

    great post!
    take care & best wishes,
    Alan