Our experience of life is shaped by the lens we are looking through.
It’s fascinating to me that two people can walk into the exact same situation, experience the same event, and walk away with completely different interpretations of what just happened. One person sees an opportunity, while the other sees a problem. One person feels excited about the unknown, while the other feels terrified by it. Same circumstances, different perspectives.
And it made me wonder how often we’re responding to what’s actually happening in our lives versus what we believe is happening. Because those aren’t always the same thing.
Now... I know... this concept isn’t new. We find variations of it throughout metaphysical teachings, spiritual traditions, and philosophical practices around the world. The idea that the lens through which we view life influences the reality we experience. Some traditions speak about our consciousness shaping our reality, while others teach that our beliefs influence what we perceive, how we interpret our experiences, and ultimately how we move through the world.
We can look across humanity and see so many different interpretations of what it means to be alive! We see people experiencing extraordinary challenges who somehow find meaning, opportunity, or a way forward. We also see others facing similar circumstances who experience those same challenges very differently. Of course, circumstances, resources, and support systems matter enormously, but so does the way we interpret what we’re experiencing.
It makes me curious about how much possibility we might overlook simply because of the lens we’re viewing it through.
We all have a lifetime of experiences informing how we see the world. The families we grew up in, the things we were taught, the relationships we’ve had, our successes, our disappointments, and the experiences that have left a lasting impression. All of those things influence what we notice, what we expect, and what we believe is possible. And most of the time, we’re not even aware of it. We just assume the way we’re seeing something is the way it is. And then someone else comes along with a completely different interpretation, and we’re left wondering how on earth they arrived at that conclusion!
What if we became curious about our own perspective instead of automatically believing every interpretation our mind offers us?
What if, when something doesn’t go the way we expected, we asked ourselves whether there might be another way to look at it? To recognize that our first interpretation isn’t necessarily the only one available to us.
And when we bring this conversation into health and wellness, I think it becomes even more interesting. Consider what happens in your body when you perceive something as threatening.
Your breathing may become shallow, your muscles tighten, your heart rate increases, and your nervous system prepares you to respond. Now consider what happens when you feel safe, supported, or at ease. Your breathing may naturally slow, your muscles begin to relax, and your body has an opportunity to settle. The circumstances around us may not have changed, but our interpretation of what’s happening can influence how our bodies respond.
This is one reason I find practices like meditation, breathwork, and sound baths so helpful. They create opportunities to slow down, notice what’s happening within us, and become more aware of the relationship between our thoughts, emotions, and physical responses. And sometimes, when we give ourselves that space, we begin to see something differently. And it’s because the external world suddenly changed, but we’ve created an opportunity to respond rather than simply react.
I think about how often we tell ourselves things like, “I’m too old to start something new,” or “That would never work for me,” or “There’s nothing I can do about this.” Maybe it’s even something as simple as, “This is just the way things are.”
But are those facts? Or are they beliefs we’ve repeated so many times that they’ve started to feel like facts? And what happens when we begin questioning them?
Maybe nothing about the circumstances changes immediately, but maybe we notice an option we hadn’t considered. We become willing to have a conversation we’d been avoiding, or we try something we previously dismissed. And suddenly, we’re participating in our lives a little differently.