Power of Perception: Control Your Emotions, Transform Your Life

Imagine you send a message to your best friend…

And they don’t respond.

What kind of thoughts start running through your head?

Maybe they’re mad?

Maybe I did something wrong?

What if something terrible happened!

Now consider some of the emotions that will come up based on those interpretations… maybe sadness, fear, worry, anxiety.

What if your perception of the situation was simply…

“Oh, they must be busy, I’m sure they just forgot.”

Very different emotional outcome.

Here’s what’s fascinating…

Research shows us that it’s our PERCEPTION of events that determine our emotional response NOT the events themselves. 

This explains why two different people can go through the exact same event and have two totally different emotional reactions.

Imagine two people who work for the same company and both get fired on the same day.

One individual percieves the event as an opportunity to pursue their passion …. RELIEF. HOPE.

The other individual percieves the event as stressful and financially damaging …. WORRY. FEAR.

It’s not the event itself… it’s the perception of the event.

Here’s why this is so powerful…

We often believe that our emotions are out of our control.

However, we control our perceptions of events 👉 our perceptions determine our emotions 👉 we control our emotions

This is one of the most effective tools for overcoming things like freaking out if the scale goes up.

It’s not that the scale went up, it’s your interpretation and perception of the scale going up that caused those emotions.

Your perception is “I gained fat. This isn’t working. What if nothing ever works? What if I don’t have control over my body?”

But what if you switched your perception to “Oh it is totally normal for this to happen sometimes.”

Research also shows us that resilient people have the ability to re-frame their perception of events to generate a more productive outcome and solution.

Perception theory puts YOU in the driver’s seat.

Think about the last event that didn’t go as planned.

What was your interpretation of the event and what emotions did it cause?

Identify that first.

Then consider… how can I interpret this differently? Can I learn from it? Is there a positive takeaway in what happened?

This is also why real coaching is so important and extends way beyond just calories and workouts.

A quality coach will show you the side of the story that you may be blind to.

Like a good friend that tells you they simply had a crazy day and weren’t ignoring your messages.

Our thoughts control our emotions, our emotions control our behaviors, our behaviors control our actions…

Think about the potential of taking control of that cycle and having a perspective that shifts the outcome in your favor.

POWERFUL.

Does this resonate? Can you think of an example where you put this into practice?

If so, I highly recommend listening to the latest episode of my podcast that goes into detail on this exact theory and my personal experiences with it as well.

You can listen to it here:

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