Today’s card says: You get to choose the way you interpret the “truth”. The definition of truth changes more often than it might seem because rarely is the truth not infused with your story. Choose what works.
This is something I think about often. As I get older, I notice it even more. How people’s “truth” is rarely just the facts. Most of us have preconceived ideas of who we are, who others are, and we have conversations in our head. We process all of the world’s information through these conversations in our mind. And we make them mean things. Things that might or might not be true.
I’ve learned that it’s impossible to know the “truth” especially when it involves other people. As someone who’s often had worries around being worthy, being loved, liked, etc, I’ve learned that it’s impossible to know what others really think of you. It’s impossible to do the “right” things so they like you more. These things are not possible because people spend a lot more time thinking about themselves than they spend thinking about you. And making everyone or even any one person like you forever is nonstop work. It’s not worthwhile work. Because here’s the thing, if I don’t change what I think of myself (the conversations in my head) it doesn’t matter what others do or say. It’s constantly going through the filter I have in my head. The filter that colors every conversation, every action, every event with “I’m not worthy” so things happen in the real world, and I interpret them to support the story I already believe about myself.
This is true for all of us, for both the good and the bad. When you think you’re great, it’s often your story. When you think you suck, the same thing. Of course, there are exceptions. Real facts that happen in the real world. But the meaning that those facts have are fully attributed by us. We decide what they mean and we choose what we do next, depending on what decision we made. How we chose to see the “truth.”
So this is what I want to remember today. That I get to choose how I perceive the truth. I get to choose what meaning to attribute to events, to people, to words, to life. I get to choose. And I want to choose the meaning that makes me the best version of myself. So that what I do next comes from that place. So that I can keep being the best version of me.
Choosing Means is a Monthly Project for May 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Leave a Reply