Ginormous thanks to colleague and friend Erik Johnson for providing something so simple, yet so soul- and relationship-saving (as well as $$$$$-saving in therapist costs). What are your emotional illusions?? They are hurting you AND those whom you say you love. From Erik: While M. C. Escher will always have a warm spot in my heart for his mind-bending images, there’s a new contender for world’s best optical illusionist–Swiss artist Sandro Del-Prete (b. 1937). As we feast our eyes on the images above two things occur to me. 1) Artists are very clever at tricking our eyes. Just when we think visual tricksters have run out of ideas some cool new optical illusions show up. 2) Emotions are very clever at tricking our brains. Just when we think emotional tricks have run their course some new troublesome emotional illusions show up. Consider the following: Feeling wounded does not mean we are being wounded. Feeling unloved does not mean we are unloved. Feeling blamed does not mean we are being blamed. Feeling guilty does not mean we actually are guilty. Feeling ignored does not mean we actually are being ignored. Feeling unsafe does not mean we actually are at risk or in danger. Feeling hopeless does not mean things actually are hopeless. Feeling powerless does not mean we actually have no power. Feeling manipulated does not mean others are trying to manipulate us. When we see an optical illusion it takes a deliberate act of the will to convince our brain that our eyes are deceiving us. And when we feel a strong emotion it takes a deliberate act of the will to convince our brain that our emotions may be deceiving us. When things feel true we tend to believe they are true. But this isn’t necessarily the case. Just as our eyes can trick us, our perceptions can trick us. Remembering this protects us from jumping to conclusions, misreading others, and letting our emotions run away with us. END
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 00:01:10 +0000
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