“There is no ways of perceiving the world that doesn’t involve carving it conceptually into pieces.”
-Leda Comides
When you look at the things that are happening within your own life or within the whole world for that matter how do you perceive things to be? Do you look at everything at face value or do you take the time to break things down and really analyze what you are witnessing? From American psychologist Leda Comides’ perspective she believes our perception of the world cannot be without actually breaking things down conceptually piece by piece. She uses the term carving much like an artist uses a tool to shape whatever they are designing in order to make the visual artistic piece that is in the forefront of their minds become an actual physical piece of art for all to see.
One of the challenges we all face is how we can improve our perceptual skills without allowing our own preconceived notions getting in the way. Diksha Kashyap wrote a blog that focused on some strategies we can all apply towards improving our perceptual skills:
(1) Knowing Oneself Accurately: Be aware of your values, beliefs and prejudices. The more accurately a person understands themselves, the more accurately they can perceive others.
(2) Empathize with Others: Understand and be sensitive to the feelings of others. They can be developed over a passage of time by proper feedback system and by close interaction and working.
(3) Having a Positive Attitude: Attitudes have a strong and long lasting effect on perception so lets make sure to have a positive one instead of a negative one which can lead towards a distorted point of view.
(4) Positive Impression Formation: Don’t judge something too quickly. Give things plenty of time.
(5) Communicating Openly: Proper communication of information followed by appropriate feedback can help minimize perceptual distortions.
(6) Comparing One’s Perception with that of Others: By sharing perceptions we come across different point of views and potentially gain a much better understanding of the situation and the object.
If we apply these strategies each and every day our perception will truly become our reality.
What does this quote mean to you and how can you apply today’s message towards becoming more socially aware?
Becoming The Change 