The reality that you live in, the experience or reality that you choose to have is truly up to you. You are always choosing, whether you know it or not. Don’t choose to be Robert; choose to be the best version of you.
Everyone on the train eyed him suspiciously. He could feel their looks boring into him. The feeling was so intense that it was almost physically painful. Check out that one in the red hat, huddled in the corner, staring. As if he needed more proof that he was being tracked. He waited until just before the subway door closed and leaped between the doors, just in the nick of time. He would not be captured on this day! Robert suspected that this was about harvesting and selling his organs to the highest bidder. They were just too obvious. The evidence was everywhere. He managed again to stay one step ahead of them.
The only catch about this scenario is that none of it is true. No one is the least bit interested in Robert or his healthy pink kidneys. He is just another lost soul, wandering the subways, living in his own frightening virtual reality. Our first instinct is to laugh or to feel sorry for Robert. We congratulate ourselves that we have a firm grip on reality and that we see things as they are. We are rooted in truth with clear eyes and accurate vision.
Truth be told, we are more Robert than reality. Every one of us perceives life through the filters of our limiting beliefs and the feelings that these beliefs cause. We each create a set of habits and patterns of avoidance, based on a narrative that we’ve woven to sidestep the ‘dangers’ that we perceive. No, we don’t believe we are being hunted for our organs, but we hold it to be true that we are not enough, and that the world sees and judges this, finding us wanting. We avoid exposure of our imagined flaws and faults. “I’m not lovable. I’m not smart enough. I’m a fraud and a phony. I don’t belong. I make people uncomfortable…” On and on the litany goes, this internal dialogue created by childhood trauma and reinforced by the ‘evidence’ that we scan for every day.
We see disapproval where there is none. We see judgment that doesn’t exist. We live smaller, so as not to be seen, lest they see our imaginary faults. We don’t fully participate in life and we don’t have the confidence or trust in ourselves. No, we are not Robert, but we are not ourselves. We stay within the narrow confines of our defects, like Gremlins hiding under a bridge, and we say that the world is doing this to us, that this is the truth.
