Can We Create Our Own Reality?

Reality...it's a word that has many, many meanings.  The basic idea is that the word represents the life that each of us lives.  Reality is supposedly a law that has strict boundaries.  The sun is shining outside.  Today that is a reality in my word.  It can be proven simply by looking out the window. 

Last night there were angels flying through our home.  The joy and peace that they brought with them helped me to relax and sleep.  I could not SEE those angels with my human senses.  In other words, that was not REALITY. 

Reality means the things that you can define with your senses.  If you can't see, hear, touch, taste, or feel with your hands, the experience falls outside the definition of reality, or does it?

I attended a lecture where the speaker said, "Each of us have our own reality."

To that point I was very comfortable seeing life as reality...and now he was telling me that MY reality might not fit in someone else's perception?  How could that be possible.

When my husband attended Law School, into his brilliant mind was pounded the concept of "Relative truth."  That was another mind stretcher for me.  To this point in my life, truth, much like reality was either black, or it was white.  There was no gray shading shadowing reality or truth!

Imagine taking a test where every single answer was correct?  Your task?  You had to choose the MOST correct of any of the answers given.  Welcome to a great portion of the Oregon Bar Exam.  Relative truth must be understood to pass this test.

I believe that each and everyone of us is capable of creating our own reality, our own truth.  I wake up in the morning every single morning, feeling physically miserable.  I live with many, many chronic illnesses.  I could choose each morning to make my reality the struggles of living with disability.  Some days, by necessity, I must face some unpleasant realities that come with living with physical challenge. 

On the other hand, why would I wish to give any portion of my life away.  Why would I wish to see ONLY the DIS in the word DISability?  Why wouldn't I wish to find all of the ABILITIES that I still have? 

Nyle related a story to me about an athlete who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident.  His response?  "Before I had limitless things that I could do.  I still have at least a million things that I can do!"

Healing from that injury he became involved in para athletic events.  He was riding a hand controlled bicycle in a race.  He turned the corner and ran head on into a car that had ignored all the barriers, and warning signs and driven the wrong way on a one way street.  He lost both of his legs.  Again as he regained consciousness to this new grim loss his response was, "Now there are at least 800,000 things that I can still do!"

I wish that I were this endlessly positive.  I'm not.  Yet I do realize that it's very, very important to remember the law of focus.  If it's not actually a law, it should be.  To end my discussion I will tell a simple story.

 Sadie was an adorable 8 year old girl who had been cranky all morning long.  Her Mother was at the end of her patience.  She wanted to help Sadie change her attitude.  So drawing Sadie with her to the window the Mother said, "Sadie, look out the window and tell me what you see."

Sadie said grumpily, "Yuck Mom.  Don't you ever wash this window?  There are dead bug guts, and streaks all over it."

Sadie's Mother took a long, deep breath.  Then she answered, "Honey, look THROUGH the glass.  What do you see beyond that glass?" 

Sadie giggled, "Oh, there is my dolly that I couldn't find this morning.  I must have forgotten to bring her inside last night!  I don't remember the grass being that green.  Oh look at those fluffy clouds.  One of them looks like a bunny hopping!"

Her Mother now said, "Sadie, which one would you rather focus on, the bug guts, or the green grass?  Life is about focusing on what is the most positive."

Lest anyone say, "That's denial.  That's not reality!"  I remind you, Sadie SAW those bug guts, and the streaky window.  She didn't ignore them or pretend they didn't exist.  Instead a conscious choice was made to look beyond those negatives and see the positives.