How We Filter Reality

Do you believe that you see things as they really are? That your viewpoint is accurate? That you are objective about the situations in your life?

The research suggests the meaning you assign to everything in your life, is only based upon 10% of the facts. What you experience flows through your own interpretive lens. In other words, you are creating a story about the facts.

When you understand that the quality of your life is based upon the stories you are writing, you suddenly comprehend that you are the author of your reality.

So, of all that you could see, why do you only see your own version of life?

Cognitive neuroscientists have identified that our conscious brain processes around 40 bits of information per second. Our subconscious brain processes around 4 million bits of information per second. It’s immediately apparent: the subconscious and unconscious are processing a lot more information than the conscious brain.

If that concerns you, we also know that as we strive to navigate through so much data, our mindscape experiences around 60,000 to 70,000 conscious thoughts a day, and we make approximately 35,000 choices a day.

That is a lot of processing, filtering, and choice making based upon the narratives we create.

The truth is that each of us live in a state of “filtered personal reality.”

A Filtered Reality

Therefore, the transformative process of changing our destructive narratives begins with embracing the awareness that we use our subconscious filters to create our own reality. It is liberating to know that by changing our filter, we can alter the meaning we are imposing upon the facts, and thus change our reality.

Our filtered reality is significantly influenced by both the subconscious and the unconscious mind. As a result, the parts of the brain that function below the level of our awareness play a critical role in the creation and evolving nature of our stories. Predictively, what we see and believe things mean, determines how we feel, which then leads to the actions we choose to take, and ultimately determines the person we become.

Our stories frame the thoughts we think, the emotions we feel, and the behaviors we express, thus influencing everything in our life.

It’s Not the Experience that Affects Us, it’s the Story we Create about the Experience that Matters.

For that reason, we are not determined so much by the experiences of our life, but by the meaning we assign to them which then leads to the scripts we create, including the role we give ourselves and others. All this content is derived from the library of our stories, some conscious and many below our consciousness.

Without even thinking about it, we regularly access our personal history, habits, preferences, and then customize those details to create a story about the current situation we are in.

The Hidden Influence Upon Our Filter

As we explore the idea of how we create stories, it’s valuable to understand that the subconscious and unconscious parts of our mind contain a library of programs written from past experiences that guide our responses to the circumstances of life.

When we experience anything that is similar to our past experiences—whether in our thoughts or by way of our emotions—the programs of our past strongly affect what we see and therefore, how we assign meaning.

This process in turn affects what we feel, and eventually how we act.

Unless we develop a higher level of awareness about the influence of our subconscious and unconscious, it all keeps playing out quietly below the surface of our conscious perception.

Reflect On It

If you want to positively change your life, you need to change the lens that you’re using to filter your life through.

To change our lens, we must develop a higher level of awareness about the powerful influence that our subconscious and unconscious has on the way we think, feel, and behave. Otherwise, our old filters will keep conjuring up counterproductive thoughts and feelings that promote maladaptive behaviors all quietly bubbling up from below the surface of our conscious perception.

It is liberating to know that by changing our filter, we can change the meaning we are imposing upon the facts, which in turn changes our reality.

So, Now What?

Deliberately practice enhancing your conscious awareness in moments when old beliefs or emotions are triggered. Decide to cultivate a new way of believing, seeing, and responding to experiences based on new healthy, intentionally written narratives.

Make a conscious effort to eliminate old ways of thinking, by slowing down and allowing the influence of your conscience to assign an inspired more productive meaning to the experience.

These new meanings will create new outcomes reflecting kindness and compassion leading to inner peace and happiness.