The Inception of Perception

I know, the title rhymes. I got excited too.

I bet half of you went straight to the movie Inception, I was actually referring to the original definition, not the idea of putting a thought into someone's mind via their dreams (although this is super cool and if you haven't seen the movie yet, get out from under a rock, watch it and get ready for your mind to be blown).

Inception - the beginning, start, commencement

and just for giggles

Perception - the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding

One of those age old questions...How do I find happiness? I feel like that question is quintessentially what every human being's quest on earth is. We seek true happiness in all that we do, trying to find that perfect job, house, creating a family, surrounding ourselves with people that make us happy, etc, etc. And yet, so many of us are grumpy, bitter and jaded. Our pursuits of happiness more often than not leaves us unsatisfied. I believe this is the case because most people are searching for happiness in things that are only momentary. Money doesn't make one happy, but a lot of people believe it will and therefore spend most of their lives in pursuit of large quantities of it, only to end up miserable and alone.

I am a happy person, always have been and probably always will be. That's not to say that I don't have days where I can be a grumpy, scary lioness, but for the most part I'm chipper and cheerful. How do I stay so happy? Well for the most part, I accredit my happiness to my faith in God, cliche? Perhaps, but I swear it's true, having faith in something, and knowing that in the end, it's out of your hands takes so much stress and pressure off of a person. 

But that's not all folks! Because it's also all about perception. How you view the chain of events in your life makes such a difference on your happiness and outlook on life. Are you a glass half full kind of person, or a glass half empty? When something happens in your life do you focus on the negative ways it's impacted you, or do you try to find some good that came out of it? Because if all you see is the negative, then how will you know if something good happens to you? 

If all you see are the negative aspects of something how can you notice the little things that make you happy? I'm all about the little things. The trick is, you have to look for them, and once you are on the lookout, it's so easy to find a million little things a day that can make you happy. Once you get in the habit of doing that, well how can any once instance suddenly ruin your day completely to the point where nothing good happened at all?

How can you notice those nice little moments like when you are running like a boss, feeling bada** because you are listening to "Shipping Up to Boston", and you make eye contact with another runner going the other way and about 5 gigs of information pass between you in that glance "Hey. You're dying too? Awesome. It's so cold, this sucks. Don't give up. We got this.". You nod at each other, and then run that last mile even harder, because all you needed was that nod of encouragement to light that fire under your feet again. That is an amazing moment, but if you aren't looking for those little amazing moments and you miss them. You might never have even noticed the other runner, never made eye contact and never got that encouragement you needed. Instead you might focus all day on the fact that your run was awful because it was cold and you felt like you were dying the last 1.5 miles. Instead of how great it feels that you took charge of your fitness level and went running in the first place, and then pushed yourself that last mile. *

The Inception of Perception. In other words, start actively taking charge of how you view the events in your life and see if it just so happens to change your outlook and happiness level. 

*In case you are wondering, yes I run. Yes, this exact story happened to me and yes it was awesome.