shift in perceptive
From the perspective of our wounded self, denial is a clever place to hide. It keeps us anchored to a seemingly safe harbor where everything is familiar. When sheltered by denial, we often interpret threats and problems as benign or pretend that they don’t exist. Our safe harbor may be falling to pieces, but at least it’s familiar!
Our damaged egos unconsciously bar perceptions of real-world phenomena from our conscious awareness through fantasy, pretending, daydreaming, and outright renunciation: “That just isn’t so” But for each of us who yearn to create the best year of our lives, we must recognize that denial severely limits our ability to find positive solutions and inspiring possibilities.
Triggered by shame, denial is a defense mechanism that aims to protect us from feeling fear, anxiety, and pain. When in a state of denial, we can often admit conscious knowledge of circumstances but somehow fail to feel their emotional impact or see their logical consequences.
This is where a dose of humility can change everything. No matter how long you may have aligned yourself with denial, there is a way to break the trance. The key is to call on the courage to be straight with yourself and to identify the lie. Admit to your self-sabotaging behaviors, negative internal dialogue, righteous positions, the excuses you’re using, and where you’re blaming other people, and organizations.
This is the process of cleaning off your lens of perception. Then you can see the possibilities and make the life-changing choices that were obscured from view until now.