Rose Colored Glasses: Change Your Perception, Change Your Experience
I’m lying on my kayak on the beach side of Siskiyou Lake in Mount Shasta when a feeling of overwhelm begins to seep into my body as hordes of people begin to trail in, slowly covering every inch of the beach, making the lake look more like an overpopulated community pool on a hot summer day. My senses are accosted by the perfumed sun tan lotion, smoky charcoals and sizzling skins of hotdogs. The sun shade umbrellas and loads of beach accessors disguise the beach into a discount store rather than a sacred land of beauty. This land deserves better I think. We should not leave such footprints of mar in this natural sanctuary. It should be revered by feet that can appreciate its offering of beauty and peace. Quickly I re-examined my thoughts. Are my feet more holy and deserving than the person next to me? I realize that there is a hint of superiority in my feet. My foot being in supreme knowing and understanding of how to properly grace this Godly beauty.
Just a few hours earlier the beach line was a sacred temple and now I sit amidst the blaring beat box, the childrens’ screams, and the bellowing bull horn shouting at the misbehaving kids. I long for the stillness and silence that I believe is the grace of this magnificent landscape.
Deafened by the cacophony of noise I decide that I can at least relieve my sun-tired eyes and so reach for my sun shades. As I put them on it was as if GOD was seeing through my eyes. It is the practice of my life to see through every situation to know truth beyond the minds’ perceptions. I begin to look around at each person, at their humanity, and their reason for being, not as mine, but noticing how each person is experiencing life through their own unique lens as it unfolds perfectly for them. As I looked with new eyes I could see they too are in the whole of the energy that is one and that the nature of God is embracing ALL without judgement, without exclusion, without exception.
I feel love expand deep into my heart as I see each person as beautiful and deserving as me to sit in the glorious presence of this earthly beauty in whatever way they choose. As I surrendered my judgement I noticed an inner peace and stillness in my being. The environment, the people, the noise, the smells dropped to backside. It was if the pause button was pushed and there was only me, Siskiyou Lake and glorious Mount Shasta.
A shift in your perception is a shift in your reality. Take the leap!