Do We See Reality Clearly?

Hi and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to share a story with you. One morning while eating breakfast, a young woman couldn't believe what she saw while looking through the window of her apartment. Her neighbor, an older lady was hanging out her laundry outside, but something looked wrong. She turned to her husband and said that old lady obviously has no idea how to do her laundry.

It's not clean, I guess maybe she's senile or maybe she's poor and she can't afford proper detergent. Her husband remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang out the washing to dry, the younger woman would see the same thing and say similar comments. Sometimes she felt pity and sometimes even mild discussed watching the old lady hanging out her dirty clothes day after day. So one day, many weeks later, the young woman woke up one day and was surprised to see pristine, clean laundry hanging on her neighbor's washing line.

And she said to her husband, "Look, she's finally learned how to wash things properly. I wonder if somebody maybe gave her lessons or give her some good detergent." The husband said, "Actually I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows." So often in the same way we think that we're seeing reality clearly, but our own windows of perception, our thoughts, our viewpoints, our opinions, they cloud, or completely change the way we see things. Now this can make us judgemental and create rigid and fixed mental positions. It can also mean that we simply don't have a clear or true picture of what's actually happening. We're not seeing reality as it is.

So one way to clean our windows of perception is actually really simple. In any situation, especially if you're passing judgment, opinions or you have a really strong viewpoint or belief, simply be willing to question your way of seeing things. For instance, you could ask yourself questions, like: What filters am I looking at this situation through? In other words, what beliefs, judgments, et cetera, might be changing my perceptions. If my filter was removed completely, how might I see this situation differently? Is the filter I'm looking through helpful? Is it kind? Is this something I want to hold onto or is it time to let it go? You might also consider if that person looked back at you, what filter might the other person see you or the situation through. How might that be different? So these are questions you can use to clean the windows of your perception.

And Hey, look even if you can't remember these particular questions later, you can simply be willing to question your perception to be more openminded, to hold your judgments and opinions lightly. After all, you might be quite wrong. So that's the invitation for today. Question your perceptions, because when we do that, we open to new vistas of inner freedom and clarity, as well as kindness within the mind. So as always thank you for your practice and all that it gives the world.

And thank you for being part of this community. And just inviting you now to settle in for today's meditation.