Perception is the collection, identification, organization, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the people, places, things, and ideas that comprise your life. Sensory perception involves signals in the nervous system that result from physical stimulation of the sense organs. For example, vision involves light striking the retinas of the eyes, smell is mediated by odor molecules, and hearing involves pressure waves. Perception comprises not merely the passive receipt of these signals, but perception also includes shaping those sensate receptions by learning, memory, and expectation.
Perception involves both “top-down” effects as well as the “bottom-up” process of processing sensory input. The “bottom-up” processing is basically low-level information that’s used to build up higher-level information (i.e. – shapes for object recognition). The “top-down” processing refers to a person’s concept and expectations (knowledge) that influence perception. Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside our conscious awareness.
Three components comprise any perception: the perceiver, the target being perceived, and the situation in which the perception is occurring. Three factors can influence a perceiver’s perceptions as he or she becomes aware about something and comes to a final understanding of it. These three perceptional influences are experience, motivational state, and finally emotional state.
Ambiguity or lack of information about a target leads to a greater need for interpretation and additional perception. As one becomes more experienced at perceiving things, one becomes more adept at doing so and one also may react differently to any particular sensory perception. With experience, perceivers can learn to make finer perceptual distinctions, and learn new kinds of categorization. Experience of similar things tends to lead to “understanding” those things.
In different motivational or emotional states, the perceiver will react to or perceive something in different ways. The situation in which a target is being perceived also greatly influences perceptions because different situations may call for additional information about the target. Also in different situations a perceiver might employ a “perceptual defense” and tend to “see what he or she wants to see”.
So, what is the best emotional state in which you should begin perceiving your practically perfect performance of your life? The answer is you need to work from a purposeful perceptive state. You should intend to perceive your practically perfect performance of what you want your life to be with the purpose of changing from where you are and how you are living to where you want to be and how you want to live.
We will delve into the art of purposeful perception in Part 2 of this series of posts on Perception – The Second P of the P10 Principle.
[reminder preface=”In the meantime, remember, you GOTTABGATT!, so go out there today and be Great! All the time! Question: “]How often have you ever sat down, closed your eyes, and envisioned how your life would look if it was practically perfect?[/reminder]