The very same motorcycle looks different to each person. A custom car can be beautiful for one enthusiast and appear as a pile of tin scrap to another. Likewise some people will see beautiful flowers, roses and lilies, while another we see the catalyst for sneezing, itchy eyes and the pain of being stuck with razor sharp thorns.

You would think that someone is right and someone is wrong, wouldn’t you? Well that is just not the case when it comes to perspective, and opinion. We all have different view points on everything based upon our perspective. If we perceive a rosebush to be a threat, our perspective of them is that they are dangerous. Perspective, perception, opinion, and view point, are all void of judgment. None of these views are right or wrong just our world view. The lens through which we view something give us perspective and define our relationship to it.

The thing we need to be careful about is that our perspective tends to be overreaching. The lens that we are peering through to judge the world around us will color everything in its wake.

 For those of us that perceive our challenges to be burdens and punishments, we see the world as a place we need to defend ourselves against and everything that approaches is regarded as an attack. Now those that welcome such things, we see opportunity everywhere.

If we go to work begrudgingly because we feel we need to suffer and struggle to meet our basic needs, work will be torture. If we address our occupation as a chance to use our skills to make a contribution to the world and in turn receive like remuneration for our efforts, than we tend to thrive and grow through employments rather than lament over the burden and moan and groan.

The fact to remember is that everything we encounter is meaningless until we take out our lens with meaning programmed in. Two people can live in the same town, work the same job, have similar houses and be in similar health as one feels like he is hell and the other is living the dream. It is not the world that is going to hell in a hand basket; it is the lens you are looking through. Just like a filthy windshield can ruin a leisurely drive on a sunny day, our perspective will determine the tone the life we experience.

 So many of us feel like we need to change the world. That is certainly a daunting task. It is way easier to just clean your lens, or change it.

 Change the way you see the world, and your world will change for you. Look through the lens of acceptance, forgiveness, love and peace with gratitude and joy, and that will be the world you live in. You will never have to change anything else.

The Journey IS The Destination