What do you see in this picture?

Do you see the young lady facing away? Or do you see the old lady looking down?

What is real?

They both are, of course. Both the young lady and the old lady exist in this picture. It’s an optical illusion.

Some people will see a young lady looking away in the picture while other people will see an old lady looking down. Depending on how you look at it, part of the picture might be the young woman’s nose and eyelash, or it might be a wart on the old woman’s nose. What is the young woman’s ear might be the old woman’s eye. What is the young woman’s necklace might be the old woman’s mouth.

The picture itself hasn’t changed. Your mind just emphasizes different parts of it to make it real for you.

If we perceive something to be real, does that make it real? If I perceive myself to be a really good writer, does that fit with reality? Do others perceive me that way, or am I just fooling myself? If it’s my reality, does that make it real?

Here’s another example. How do you perceive your ‘worth’ money-wise?

If you think of yourself as a hard worker and feel that you are ‘worth’, let’s say $50,000 per year, when someone comes along and is willing to pay you, let’s say $85,000, it changes your perception of yourself. (I’m not talking about me in this example)

Your eyes are opened to the possibilities. Wow, my skills are worth $85, 000!

This is why I like reading books on success, personal development, finance, and other genres that get you to change your perception about the world, your life, and your possibilities.

By changing your perception, you change your reality.

Brian Tracy’s ‘Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life‘ book is a book that has such a profound impact on my thinking. Some of the more practical concepts that I’ve taken from this book are:

When you believe something to be true, it becomes true for you, whatever the fact may be. “You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are.”

The fact is that you can never earn much more or less than your self-concept level of income. If you want to make more money, you have to change your beliefs about yourself relative to income and money.

Your aim is to become so confident, courageous, strong, and resolute that you can set any goal for yourself with the firm knowledge that you can learn what you need to learn, and do what you need to do, to eventually achieve it.

The more different things you do that are likely to help you to achieve your goal, the more likely it is you will do the right thing at the right time.

Prosperous and wealthy people have a prosperous and wealthy mind-set. When you develop the same mind-set that other successful people have, you will soon enjoy the same results and experiences that they do.

The greatest wealth you could possibly possess is between your ears. You can create an unlimited future for yourself by tapping into your brainpower and channeling it, like a powerful current, to energize your life and get you anything you really want.

If you generate 20 ideas per day, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year, you will come up with an astounding total of 5,000 new ideas to improve your life and work each year.

The most important principle of human life is that you become what you think about most of the time. The most successful men and women report the same things. They think about what they want and how to get it most of the time.

In the book, Brian Tracy outlines 6 steps to achieving any goal. They are:

Step 1: Decide exactly what you want
Step 2: Write down your goals
Step 3: Be willing to pay the price
Step 4: Make a detailed plan
Step 5: Take action on your plan
Step 6: Do something every day
Step 7: Never give up

I think Step 1 is the hardest. Once you decide what it is that you want, the other steps just seem to fall into place. At least that’s my experience. If you want something badly enough, chances are that you will do what it takes to achieve it. You will invest in yourself. You will pay the price, whatever it is.

Isn’t it true that many people simply do not want to change that much?

But without change, we become stagnant. Our lives become small.

We do not see see things as they are, we see things as we are. — Anais Nin

How about you? Are you ready to make your perceptions your reality?

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3. One Sure-Fire Way You Can Start Your Emergency Fund Today
4. Do You Need To Let Go and Forgive?
5. Are You Being Your True Authentic Self?

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Tagged as: Beliefs, Limits, Perception, Personal Development, Success