What is his name? Where is he? What is he doing? Where does he live? Does he own a car? Is he rich? Does he have a family? What are his interests and hobbies? Where has he been in life?

You see, we very quickly make judgements about what we see based on our past experience and programming, and we look for the right answer. Here is an example of how your brain will look for the right answer.

Complete the following sentence…

“The rain in ________ falls mainly on the _________”

I’m guessing you have an answer and the right answer in your mind.

Before I explain, let’s make a quick decision about the following brands you prefer.

Make a choice about which one is your favourite:

Adidas or Nike

Mercedes or Skoda

Armani or Primark

And before you say neither, you have to pick one.

The way you answer is based on your beliefs and perception of the brands, which is entwined with the way you see the world and your values.

What we then do is we then project our beliefs and perception out into the world ‘I think Adidas is cooler than Nike’ or because we think it is the right answer, ‘Armani is more expensive, so more sophisticated than Primark.’

So now, if I said the answer to the above was ‘The rain in Botswana falls mainly on the mountains.’ And it is the correct answer; what are you now thinking? 

No, it is not; the right saying is ‘The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.’

A kneejerk reaction because your brain searches for the right answer, and when presented with the illogical or what seems to be incorrect, your mind rejects the idea, but in this case, the answer is correct it is Botswana and not Spain. It is the mountains, not the plains.

We automatically search for the right answer, and what we think is right we will project into the world…it is called perception projection, but we need to be careful of what we project because, at times, it might be wrong or it might be based on false assumptions, it might be based on stereotyping others, or biases we have.

If you don’t like spiders, we may jump in front of our kids, and then they become scared of spiders too. We may hate flying, so we project this on take-off which makes the people around us nervous too, and so on.

So how do we take control of our perception projection?

1. Notice how you project your fears and thoughts in general, and write this down.

2. Think about what it is you want to project and how you should behave.

3. Think about how you can control your perception projection and keep an objective mind.

4. Have a mental workout to help you focus on your perception projection, i.e., meditate, take time out, go for a walk, sit quietly, and contemplate your thoughts, write them down.

5. Think about the impacts you want to make on others by the way you project.
   
   

When your project positively about the world and the people in your life watch the results, you then get. In simplest terms, see the best in people, let them know, and see what world you create.

It is in your power to have an intentional day and create the life you want to live.