In my previous post, we talked about the importance of seeing reality. I gave you a great anecdote of how I have recently been interacting with this tenet of life myself. After I posted it, I felt that it was probably worth digging into WHY we don’t regularly live our lives this way, since that’s often the sticking point. It’s easy to point out the benefits of seeing reality but much harder to walk out actually seeing it.
- Reality can be overwhelming. Often we find ourselves lacking in the face of reality. We are overcome with what needs to change as well as the emotional implications of being wrong. It’s intense.
- Seeing and understanding reality feels like a risk. Often, seeing reality means we’ll probably have to change. Considering that change is the one constant of the human existence, you would think we’d have wrapped our minds around it by now. Nope. It’s just as uncomfortable, discomfiting, and undesirable as it was at the dawn of time (which was also a change…).
- Reality may not match or give us what we think we want. Desire is a powerful motivator. What if that desire is not based in reality? What if seeing reality forces you to engage with the true nature of what you want? What if that true nature does not align with your values or how you want to live?
Is there a piece of reality you are choosing to skirt around today? Does considering it make you feel overwhelmed, anxious, or frustrated that you’ll never get what you want?
Just like the title picture of this post, refusing to see reality is like looking into a dirty puddle on the ground instead of up at the world around you. You can’t see anything in truth – opportunities, problems, gifts – when you refuse to look up. This requires humility and courage. But you can do it.
For the activity, take a deep breath and go back to the previous post and run through the activity at the bottom for seeing reality.