Do you see what I see?

I lost my sunglasses during a March snowstorm. I had them for years, and I really, really liked them. The frames were great, and the lenses were UV-restricted and Polaroid-treated. They made all the colors around me look sharper and brighter. They added dimension to everything I saw, and that changed the way I felt about what I was focusing on.

It's been over a month, and I am still salty about the loss. I was on a break - an afternoon walk through the fresh snow. It was peaceful. The only sound was my boots cracking the crispy ice beneath the powdery blanket of new snow. About twenty minutes in, my walk turned into a tumble down a slippery slope of ice. Somewhere along the way, the glasses must have escaped my hand. I had taken them off to read an incoming text. (I'm sure there is a lesson in there.) Preoccupied with some injuries from the fall, I lost sight of my sunglasses - pun intended. Out of sight, they were out of mind until it was too late to recover them.

I bought another pair. I got these at a discount store while I was in Cleveland. The store's name communicates that everything is <$5. My new sunglasses were $4.99 plus the governor's share. My old sunglasses cost more - quite a bit more.

Given that I had lost the original pair, $4.99 seemed an appropriate amount to spend on replacing them. The new pair was worth every penny. The frames are nice, and the lenses are UV-protective and Polaroid-treated.

I wore my new shades while driving to an appointment - and sure enough - everything looked sharper and brighter. I was pleased with my $5 investment. I was so pleased that I did not notice a slight - but not insignificant variation. While almost everything looked the same as through my old sunglasses, green items did not look green. They looked teal. I was surprised. My filter was causing me to see something different than I had seen before - something different than someone without that filter would be seeing.

"Do you see what I see?" What a powerful question. We don't have to be wearing shades to see things differently. We have invisible filters formed by our motives, experiences, and contexts. These filters are so much a part of us that we seldom question the view. More importantly, we forget we have filters. What's the danger in that? Since we each have varying motives, experiences, and contexts - our filters vary - and while they may have much in common, the most common characteristic our filters have is a different point of view.?

When perceptions are not congruent, be curious and ask for clarity. "Do you see what I see?" The key to understanding is almost always in asking and listening. Curiosity is a beautiful thing.

Happy Tuesday! (Or is it Wednesday Eve?)

Best, Trish