Perception Deception...
Perception is a puzzling concept to me. I am amazed that most of us pay very little attention to it...and yet it shapes they way most of us think and behave. I have been thinking a lot about it lately. In fact, after close examination I have noticed that a lot of my personal writing has to do with perception in one sense or another.
For instance my articles "It's All In Your Head" and "Looking For a Way Out" both reveal how perception or even incorrect perception influences your behavior and even your outlook on life.
Sometimes at my speaking engagements I use an urban legend to illustrate my point about perception. I think it is a perfect example of the power of perception. In case you are unfamiliar with the legend here's the version I tell:
A man was on his way into the grocery store. It was extremely hot on this particular day. After circling the parking lot he found a spot to park. He quickly parked his car and was on his way into the store. As he was walking through the parking lot he heard a car horn blaring.
He started to ignore it…thinking that someone had set off a car alarm. However the horn kept blaring as if it was stuck or someone was just holding it down.
Out of curiosity he decided to investigate just in case something was wrong. So he started walking in the direction of the horn. As he began to get closer to the sound he saw a car at the far end of the parking lot. His suspicions were right. He began walking faster and saw what seemed to be a person slumped over the steering wheel! He ran over to the car as quickly as possible!
Approaching the car he looked inside the front seat to discover a woman face down on the steering wheel. She had both of her hands behind her head with her fingers interlocked.
“Are you alright!” the man yelled. No answer…”I said Are you alright!” he yelled again thinking that maybe the woman was dead. He listened for a response trying to tune out the blaring horn.
“Please Help me….” He heard a faint voice. “What is wrong?” he asked. “Please help me…I’ve been shot in the head.” The woman said. “The robber must have been waiting for me in the backseat, and shot me when I got in my car.” “I felt the bullet hit me, and I am holding my hands on my head because I can feel my brains slipping out!” “Please call an ambulance for me!
The man quickly called for an ambulance and the police. Within minutes the police and the ambulance were there. Rushing frantically to the car they gently tried to remove the woman from the car. Amazingly there was no blood inside the car.
After a few minutes of assuring the woman that her brains would not fall out, the paramedics convinced the woman to put her hands downs. As the woman’s hands came down, the man, the police, and the paramedics were shocked to see that the woman had not been shot at all!
What had happened was…the woman had been out shopping earlier that day. She was on her way home when she realized that she had forgotten a few things so she parked her car and went back inside the grocery store…leaving her bags of groceries on the back seat in the HOT Sun. Among the contents of the bags were some of those instant biscuits that you pop open and bake.
Well those biscuits heated up and just as the woman got in her car to drive away…they exploded…hitting her in the back of the head with force. Out of reflex she reached up to feel the back of her head and felt something hot and sticky. Startled by the popping sound and feeling the sticky wet mass on the back of her head…she assumed she had been shot. So she grabbed what was left of her brains and tried to hold them in until help came…
The story is referred to as the "Biscuit Bullet" and as far as I know it is an urban legend, but the point I usually make with the story is that the woman in the story really believed that she had been shot. She heard the bang, felt something hit her in the head and perceived it to be a gunshot.
Likewise we sometimes see or hear something that gives us a certain perception...and instead of investigating to see if our perception is correct we usually take that perception and run with it...which usually causes us more problems when we find out later that we were wrong.
How about you, do you let your perceptions run wild?
.
For instance my articles "It's All In Your Head" and "Looking For a Way Out" both reveal how perception or even incorrect perception influences your behavior and even your outlook on life.
Sometimes at my speaking engagements I use an urban legend to illustrate my point about perception. I think it is a perfect example of the power of perception. In case you are unfamiliar with the legend here's the version I tell:
A man was on his way into the grocery store. It was extremely hot on this particular day. After circling the parking lot he found a spot to park. He quickly parked his car and was on his way into the store. As he was walking through the parking lot he heard a car horn blaring.
He started to ignore it…thinking that someone had set off a car alarm. However the horn kept blaring as if it was stuck or someone was just holding it down.
Out of curiosity he decided to investigate just in case something was wrong. So he started walking in the direction of the horn. As he began to get closer to the sound he saw a car at the far end of the parking lot. His suspicions were right. He began walking faster and saw what seemed to be a person slumped over the steering wheel! He ran over to the car as quickly as possible!
Approaching the car he looked inside the front seat to discover a woman face down on the steering wheel. She had both of her hands behind her head with her fingers interlocked.
“Are you alright!” the man yelled. No answer…”I said Are you alright!” he yelled again thinking that maybe the woman was dead. He listened for a response trying to tune out the blaring horn.
“Please Help me….” He heard a faint voice. “What is wrong?” he asked. “Please help me…I’ve been shot in the head.” The woman said. “The robber must have been waiting for me in the backseat, and shot me when I got in my car.” “I felt the bullet hit me, and I am holding my hands on my head because I can feel my brains slipping out!” “Please call an ambulance for me!
The man quickly called for an ambulance and the police. Within minutes the police and the ambulance were there. Rushing frantically to the car they gently tried to remove the woman from the car. Amazingly there was no blood inside the car.
After a few minutes of assuring the woman that her brains would not fall out, the paramedics convinced the woman to put her hands downs. As the woman’s hands came down, the man, the police, and the paramedics were shocked to see that the woman had not been shot at all!
What had happened was…the woman had been out shopping earlier that day. She was on her way home when she realized that she had forgotten a few things so she parked her car and went back inside the grocery store…leaving her bags of groceries on the back seat in the HOT Sun. Among the contents of the bags were some of those instant biscuits that you pop open and bake.
Well those biscuits heated up and just as the woman got in her car to drive away…they exploded…hitting her in the back of the head with force. Out of reflex she reached up to feel the back of her head and felt something hot and sticky. Startled by the popping sound and feeling the sticky wet mass on the back of her head…she assumed she had been shot. So she grabbed what was left of her brains and tried to hold them in until help came…
The story is referred to as the "Biscuit Bullet" and as far as I know it is an urban legend, but the point I usually make with the story is that the woman in the story really believed that she had been shot. She heard the bang, felt something hit her in the head and perceived it to be a gunshot.
Likewise we sometimes see or hear something that gives us a certain perception...and instead of investigating to see if our perception is correct we usually take that perception and run with it...which usually causes us more problems when we find out later that we were wrong.
How about you, do you let your perceptions run wild?
.
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