Perception and Perserverance

I’ll get right into this one as I’m going to be writing a good bit about the things that have been going on in the land of Scott, and while some of you won’t really care about the ramblings of the Geek, maybe there will be one person, just one, that will read something that I’m about to write and will get something from it. To that one person…this one’s for you.

The last week or so has been kinda interesting. I’ve been going through a lot of the worldly possessions that I have and have been giving lots of things away that I don’t need, don’t want or really shouldn’t be holding on to (as an example, I’m down to around 80 DVD’s from 300+). I find the process of cleaning out all the clutter rather freeing in and of itself, and, when you add to that the fact that in giving something to someone, you brighten their day as well, it ends up being a win/win situation all around. So, I’ve kinda weeded out about 1/3 of the stuff that I have and have either thrown it away, given it to friends or made it available to folks that might need it more than I.

Not only have I been getting rid of a lot of physical things, I’ve been trying to get rid of a lot of the mental trappings that I’ve been carrying around with me for so long. I was reading a book the other day that basically said that your world is ruled or governed by your perception of it. Meaning, how I see the world is how it is to me. So…that got me to thinking…how much of what I see that is wrong with things really is wrong, and how much of it is only wrong because I think it is? It’s a rather sobering idea to think that you, as an individual, contribute that much to the world as a whole…but we do. My thoughts of how things are are how things are, to me. If I want to change my world, I have to change myself.

So, I’ve been working on how I interpret the world and the events that happen around me. Instead of lamenting the things that I don’t like about the world around me, I just change how I think of them, or if I even bother thinking about them at all. As an example, if I were to look back at my life at the things that have happened to me, I could genuinely be upset about a great many things. I’m sure we all could. So, what I did is stop and think to myself, “Does anything that happened in my past REALLY matter?” I realize that I am the sum of the decisions that I’ve made over my life and the sum of the experiences that I’ve had…but does any of the stuff that I’m upset about REALLY matter? The resounding answer was, “No…none of it matters.” The things that I’ve been upset about in the past really don’t matter…because if they did, they would be a part of my present, and my future (thanks Ms. Lebowski!).

My closing thought for this post is another thought I had that was prompted by something I read: If you look at life like a battle, the thing you have to remember is it’s not so important the amount of times that you were hit, injured, tired or whatever…it’s the fact that you were tired, you got hit, you were injured…and you continued pushing forward anyway.