Kayla Becker loves to serve and inspire others as a friend, school teacher, yoga instructor, success coach and more. I have known Kayla as a contemplative friend for quite awhile now and truly love the beauty of her heart. The wisdom in her article about truth versus perception in seeing can easily be applied to how to see God and His children with an awakened heart. Thank you Kayla for your service to God and His creations! Blessings, Bonnie
Kayla Becker, guest blogger
One of my first mentors always talked about beach balls
As a metaphor
For how people see a situation.
Depending on which side of a beach ball you are standing
You will see different colors –
If you are standing on one side of the beach ball,
You’ll see the colors green, orange, and white
And if you are standing on the other side of the beach ball,
You’ll see the colors yellow, blue, and red.
And as my mentor told me,
Each person is right
Regardless of what they see –
Because they can only see what is in front of them.
And it’s what we currently know
That is guiding our reality.
Whatever side of the situation – of the ball – we are seeing
Is our truth.
I think about this analogy often when I am working with my clients
Because it is often our perception, our truth,
That is impacting us –
For better or for worse.
Sometimes it’s our perception of ourselves –
“I’m not good enough”
“I’m not where I want to be”
“I always mess up”
“I’m going to fail”
“I don’t know how to get over this”
“I don’t fit in”
“No one understands me”
“I can’t figure out how to change (fill in the blank)”
“I’m such a (loser, screw up, disappointment, hot mess, black sheep…)
And it is these perceptions –
These “truths” –
We have about ourselves
That keeps us stuck.
And other times,
It’s these big, looming thoughts we have about being
Judged
And
Criticized
And
Being all alone
That frightens us the most
Because of past experiences
And memories
That holds us hostage
In our own lives.
And when this happens,
We need to pick up the beach ball
And examine it.
We need to turn it to the other side,
Flip it around,
Turn it upside down
And see what we see …
And that’s one of my roles with my clients –
To help them see and explore something different,
So, they can decide for themselves.
Because sometimes seeing something different is really hard
Especially when we’ve believed something about ourselves, or others, or a situation,
For so long.
Because many times
Those are the ones that are causing us the most anguish
Because they are so ingrained in who we are,
And how we see ourselves…
And when we’ve believed something for so long
It becomes a “truth”
Rather than a perception.
If you’re seeing only one side of the beach ball,
You aren’t seeing the whole thing clearly
And that’s a problem.
© 2023 Kayla Becker
Awakening Light 