Perception is a choice, period.

I love creating with clay. My mother died before I discovered my passion otherwise she would have been shocked that the same daughter that hated getting her hands dirty as a child was happily sitting at the potters wheel up to the armpits in brown mud. 

My weekly ceramics class is my ‘me time’. I find it both uplifting, satisfying and meditative. My classmates are creative and supportive and quick to offer help, praise and advice. We have great camaraderie and co-operation. 

A couple of weeks ago, a newish member of our potter clan, a professional artist who specialized in canvas painting, arrived very excited to view his first 3D ceramic creation still warm out of the kiln. His face quickly became a mixture of sadness, anger and shame as he inspected his work. He hated the dish so much he refused to take it home. Hence it has been sitting on a table in the studio for the last two weeks.

There are about 25 other students in our clan who have seen the dish and every single one without exception has expressed admiration at the decoration and loved the dish, each for a different reason. Everyone was in awe of the fact that the artist had created, in his very first attempt at working in a new medium, a brand new unique surface texture and a very innovative and attractive paint finish. In fact everyone wanted it. I was expecting a spontaneous auction to break out but eventually our Teacher suggested giving the dish to a fund raiser for charity. We are all convinced the winner will love the dish.

So what is the lesson in this story. Well it reminded me of the old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s also a perfect metaphor for the NLP pre-supposition of ‘respect the other person’s model of the world’. 

Perception is a very personal experience. No two people can perceive in exactly the same way. Some people are optimists, some pessimists. Some see the world through rose colored lenses and others through dark grey ones. Some have half empty cups and others half full ones. We all have differing glass ceilings that we feel trapped by.

But what if it could be different? What if we could change any limiting belief we have? What if we could change our perception of our circumstances in the blink of an eye? What difference would that make to your life? 

My passion, well in addition to working with clay, is to facilitate a change in perception so people find more satisfaction and joy in their lives. To help with the release of limiting beliefs, should not’s and cannot’s. To also assist people in finding their purpose and living it.

Clay is malleable and yet it has memory. Usually we can persuade it to become the beautiful pot we had in mind. Very occasionally it seems to be resistant to embracing the birth into something wonderfully new.

Are you ready for a new perception?   The choice is entirely yours.