Our past conditioning has created our perceptions of the world, and most of the time those perceptions are rather distorted… we think we are seeing the world clearly, as it really is but we are seeing the world as we are. Our perceptions shape the way we see others, determine our behaviours, and can even determine how others will respond to us!

The only way our experience of the world will truly change is if we can learn to step back from ingrained patterns and look at the lens through which we see the world.  Why? Because the lens shapes how we interpret the world.

We have many programmed “maps” in our head and we interpret everything we experience through these mental maps, and we also judge others through them as well! If someone lives up to our expectations or doesn’t is largely based on our internal maps of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ etc.

To step back from one’s ingrained patterns is not an easy task because we haven’t been trained to do this. It’s not widely taught at school, if at all. Learning dry facts and processing data in a left-brained way is still favoured over learning to be a self-aware human being with a high level of emotional and spiritual intelligence. Today’s education is utterly failing our children to be equipped for the real world of interpersonal relationships.

Perhaps the most effective way to analyse ourselves effectively is through the process of meditation which operates from the basis of compassion for oneself – for there is no point being introspective if you are going to beat yourself up for every flaw you perceive!

Meditation is a wonderfully liberating tool because it creates a ‘gap’ in an almost constant stream of thought. By learning to observe our thoughts, this process allows us to become an impartial witness and consider whether our beliefs (or maps) are accurate or not, and whether they are serving us.

Often, meditation will allow us to drop our false sense of identification and useless attachments, moving us towards a more Universal perspective – one that is more encompassing of others’ beliefs, and one that is based on truth, rather than dogma and/or fear. In short, our past conditioning will not be so relevant and we will be free of it to a large extent.

The other way our mental maps can change is if we experience an unexpected paradigm shift, which I like to think of as a gift from an Intelligent Universe that operates purposefully to assist us in our personal and collective evolution!

Often a paradigm shift comes through a life crisis…

If you were suddenly diagnosed with Stage 4/5 Cancer and the conventional medical route wasn’t working, you would most likely find yourself facing a total paradigm shift as you explored ‘alternative’ routes to healing, even if that meant you were breaking the law to regain your health!

A three year old Utah boy’s parents went through a life-changing paradigm shift when they were told their son had days to live when the ‘gold standard’ of cut, burn and poison had faile, and through sheer desperation, they decided to administer the Cannabis plant despite the fact that it is illegal where they live.

As well as facing a personal crisis triggered by a major illness or accident, many people experience a fundamental shift when they suddenly find themselves in a new and major life role such as husband or wife, parent or grandparent.

Personal loss can also bring about tremendous change – the death of a loved one, or the ending of a relationship has far-reaching consequences because it challenges the very foundation of who we think we are, and what we know.

Yet, beyond all of these events that trigger deep personal change, if we stay open to the compassion that is a natural result of heart-centered living, we can and will break through faulty, self-critical patterning held in the mind and learn to love the journey we call “life”!