virgin islands scene

In life, as in football, you won't go far unless you know where the goalposts are.
-- Arnold Glasow
 

 

Monday, November 25, 1996

Experience

There’s a lot of talk about virtual reality these days. But in fact, everything is virtual reality. Reality as we know it, is only in the way we perceive it with our senses.

Regardless of what the outside world presents, we contol the way we experience it. We can choose to focus on the noise of a crowded shopping mall, or the beauty of a sculpture in the store window. We can feel the bitter cold of the north wind, or we can see the brilliant sunlight reflected on a glittering field of snow.

Reality is far from absolute, as even scientists will tell us. Experience can not be merely delivered, it must be lived. Life is a string of experiences over which we have a large measure of control. Though we often have little effect on events outside ourselves, we do control the way we experience them. Has anyone ever told you that “you’re blowing that out of proportion"? Or have you ever said something such as “I’m going to put that behind me"? Has something from the past ever “come back to haunt you.” We freely manipulate experience without regard to physical or temporal limitations.

The universe is a cornucopia of stimuli, from which can be drawn any experience imaginable. Life is experienced on your own terms, whether you like it or not. You are responsible for your own reality. If you’re satisfied with your reality, then make more of it. And if you’re not happy with it, then change it. You control your experience -- you might as well experience the life you want.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©1996 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.