Tricky. The problem is that how you see something may not be, probably isn’t, how another person might see the same thing. It’s a matter of our individual perception. And our perception is determine by our frame of reference. And… our frame of reference is determined by our experiences.
No two people, even those in the same household, see everything through the same eyes. This is when things get ‘interesting’ because, unfortunately, we all tend to act on the assumption that we all are seeing the same thing in the same way. We may have shared experiences but rarely do we see things precisely the same way.
One of the more interesting attributes of perception is that it typically is an is. If you think it is, then it is. And most people are prone to hold, tightly, on to their perceptions without thinking about them. It isn’t that I am suggesting you abandon your perceptions, not sure one can, but to be aware that you are operating from your own perception. This means, by ‘definition’, that the other person is too.
Perception is also helpful because it gives us a platform from which to understand the world we are looking at/interacting with. Often we have to make ‘snap’ decisions and our perceptions form the basis for doing that. Without perception we would be operating deaf and blind. What we need to be aware of however, is that everyone does this so when we don’t understand why someone reacts differently than we expected, we need to take the time to talk with them to understand.
