I was talking with some friends the other day about what we perceive as reality and it got me thinking about video games and other forms of escape from what we define as our reality. I started wondering what it would take to let go of the entire argument about what is true and what is real and simply accept that we create our own reality that either matches what is or doesn’t.
How many arguments simply wouldn’t be worth having because there would be no need to prove who is more right? How much political heat could be removed if we would not get caught in identifying ourselves with political parties or power players in work situations who are dedicated to creating stories about the other party to scare people into aligning with them? I’m wondering about how we might separate the reality in which we live, acknowledging that it simply exists—that life just is—from how we either think it should be or want it to be.
We add the meaning. We choose what data to ignore and what data to focus our energies on resisting or promoting. And if we would develop what some might call courage, we could become aware that the world we create is the world we experience. By that I mean that if we focus on all that is wrong with the world, or just the slice we live in, we create an experience that often includes forms of resistance—self doubt, fear, or suffering. If we focus on all that we appreciate in the world, we experience small miracles and beauty around us.
Both worlds exist because they are created through the experience of the person defining or perceiving them. It is truly an AND experience to recognize that what is simply is and, then choose consciously how we want to respond, thereby creating our experience of what is real for us. It is not about denying pain and suffering, or what some experience as injustices and meanness. It is not about denying what we see or experience in our worlds.
By recognizing what is true in our experience and then consciously choosing how we want to respond to what is, we genuinely create our experience—our reality.
Happiness is one possible response to what is. When we choose to respond with happiness to circumstances in our lives, we create the experience of happiness. Rather than telling ourselves that other people have reasons to be happy and we don’t, we come to recognize that it is within our reach to create our own happiness, because happiness is a possible response to whatever circumstances are presented. Gratitude is another possible response. Curiosity is yet another. And any of those three responses will yield a wildly different quality of life than another response, which is resistance to what is.
Resistance is any energy directed at what is to change it. Arguing about who is right, how I want you to perceive me, how I want you to behave, whatever I think the world should be that it is not are all examples of resistance. Your reality may be that the world has a number of situations and relationships that you perceive as painful. Name that reality AND consciously choose whether you want to invest your energy on that reality by focusing on it. Alternatively, you can choose to acknowledge its existence, and choose to respond in a way that supports your experience of the person you choose to be in this world.
You may find that won’t need video games to create a new reality. You can do it in the world in which you live today, by playing with life’s offerings the same way as you might play a video game. Watch what you are presented; know how you want to play the game and the experience you want to have (excitement, ease, challenge, conquering obstacles…). Stay present with each new scenario you are presented, and choose what you want to experience. What is AND your experience of what is become your reality. Enjoy (if you choose, of course)!
