Perception is reality, but people perceive things differently. Unfortunately, we cannot control the thoughts and impressions of others, but we can at least influence their opinions.
― Gabriel García Marquez
What would you like to attract into your life? Health? Wealth? Friends? Love? Creativity? What separates you from the rest? What is your mark? Your brand? What does your environment say about you, and what kinds of people and outcomes are you drawing? What kind of image are you promoting?
We cannot control our situations entirely, but we can command the actions that we take. It takes time to break down old unhealthy or inefficient strongholds, but it can be done. With time and effort, a person can change and create a new image, forming fresh attitudes and perceptions.
Rerouting Your Neural Connections
Over time, the brain gets used to a certain mode of thinking, and it grows accustomed to the routine that it has created for itself. Even if that line of thinking is unproductive, those thoughts become the norm. The brain then has to be retrained to escape that negative pattern.
A fresh outlook can be achieved by coming up with practical alternatives to the original flawed perspectives. First, you’d need to identify the unfruitful thoughts. Then you’d be able to set out to test and determine better interpretations. The brain can then become wired to seek more positive outlooks.
Another way to maintain healthy perspectives is to always keep in mind that mistakes often lead to valuable learning. Although challenging circumstances create obstacles, these barriers can also uncover new opportunities, further aiding in creating newer and healthier neural pathways in the brain. Also, don’t be too critical of yourself or think you must change every little flaw. Being unique can be a signature indicating originality, lead to a different way of seeing and doing things and provide a fresh or different approach.
Creating a Metaphorical Model
Through comparison and categorization, metaphors provide a tool for reframing common assumptions and influencing perceptions and interpretations. People base their opinions of you on your outer appearance as well as your associations and surroundings. Some even say we absorb and actually become the habitat in which we dwell.
Place yourself into the most optimal situations and surround yourself with inspiring people. Inspirational people can motivate you to become more like them. Find a person, real or fictional, to emulate. Let that role model become a symbol for what you’d like to achieve. By emulating and acting, a unique language is developed, with multiple perspectives created. Think of it as living your life by example. A vision and strategy for change can be forged by following another character’s lead.
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
Identity Ownership – Random Thoughts to Ponder
Weight can be lost and new habits can be gained. A new career can be obtained. Hair color, even eye color, can be changed. An individual can alter their image, their personality. They can change their name or even purchase (or steal) a new identity altogether. A persona can be completely transformed, but can you truly escape your identity?
Who has the right to establish a person’s identity? What is an identity- a name, a number or other identifiers such as sex, eye color, hair color, height or weight? Is your identity formed by your fingerprints, by your DNA? Can a person’s DNA be safely changed? Paternity tests establish DNA and people even willingly give their DNA to find ancestral connections. Felons give their DNA against their will. Who should blood or DNA belong to? The individual? The state?
What about in cases involving memory loss due to trauma, medication or illness? Who are you then? What or who are you responsible for? Who decides an individual’s identity in the case of incompetence? In other words, if you don’t know who you are, then who does? Should identity be a choice? If so, and you can’t choose, who chooses?
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
― John Wooden
Conclusion
Image is important. It is what people see. It isn’t necessarily what is really there. Your identity is who you are, no one can change that. Your image, however, can be changed, by you or … by others. Brand yourself. Market yourself. Define who you want to be and then set out to purposefully and persistently promote that vision. Nothing is permanent. Change yourself before the world changes you for you.