Man in the Mirror PROJECT - Perceptions of Suffering

We often judge our insides, our thoughts and feelings, by other people's outsides.  That's all we know, all we can see.  However, how many times have you been surprised to find a friend with suicidal thoughts, a neighbor who has a drinking problem, or the perfect couple down the street that has the police car at their house because of domestic violence?  Outward appearances don't always reflect what lies within.  I like to think of it as similar to the labels we tend to place on people.  What does a spiritual person look like, for instance?  You may draw the conclusion, that they have a bald head, no shoes, and an orange robe on.  Yet, we must remember to not always judge a book by its cover.  There are many things we see or don't see in others that we perceive differently than what they truly are.

When we do this we leave ourselves most often in a place of loneliness or suffering.  We perceive ourselves to be different then everyone else.  The only one in pain.  The only one suffering from an abusive childhood, an alcoholic parent, or an abusive husband.  Should we shift our thinking and accept the truth, that we have an undeniable commonality with many other people who have also had abusive childhoods, an alcoholic parent or an abusive husband we gain the "connection" again of being human.  Too often we place ourselves in places of loneliness when indeed it is only within the context of our mind.

We don't have control over what happens to us.  The child who is abused, the victim of a crime, or someone who has been hit with an illness.  We do, however, have infinite control within to claim our power and take reign on how we want to perceive our world and how we will feel about it.  Sometimes all it takes is knowing we are not alone, that one step at a time will lead us somewhere better and making the simple decision to be happy, no matter what.