What Filter Are You Viewing Your Life Through?

I recently listened to something a fellow empath posted on social media, and she made a beautiful point. She asked the question:

What filter are you using? Fear or Soul?

It really stopped me in my tracks.

I feel like we do this so much, right?

We get this fear talk in our mind. Something happens—or maybe something hasn't even happened yet—and our mind starts creating all of the possible scenarios.

We catastrophize situations and potential outcomes.

What if this happens? What if that happens? What if it doesn't work out? What if I made the wrong decision? What if something goes wrong?

And the more we feel into it, the more our rational mind takes control.

The more we try to figure it out.

The more scenarios we create.

The more we spiral.

And then the more fear comes front and center.

Before we know it, we're no longer looking at the situation as it actually is.

We're looking at it through the filter of fear.

And that filter can change everything.

It can make a possibility feel like a certainty.

It can make a difficult situation feel catastrophic.

It can have us creating an entire story around something that hasn't even happened.

And sometimes, it can even pull us into a victim mentality.

We begin to see ourselves as powerless within the situation...

Look what is happening to me.

I have no choice.

This always happens to me.

Why does this keep happening?

And we may not even recognize that we're doing it because, when we're inside the fear, it feels very real.

But what happens when we look through a different filter?

What happens when we look through the filter of Soul?

When we tune into our heart center.

When we step outside of the constant need to rationalize and figure everything out.

When we allow ourselves to see the situation from a higher perspective—what is sometimes referred to as the Eagle perspective.

Instead of being down in the details, we're able to step back and see the bigger picture.

And suddenly, things can look very different.

The situation may not have changed.

But the way we're seeing it has.

From the fear perspective, we may only be able to see what could go wrong.

From the soul perspective, we may begin to see what else could be possible.

From fear, we may feel like something is happening to us.

From soul, we may begin to wonder what this experience is showing us.

From fear, we can become consumed by the story.

From soul, we can create enough space to actually see the story.

And this isn't about forcing positivity onto a situation.

It's not about pretending something isn't hard.

It's not about telling yourself that everything happens for a reason or convincing yourself that everything is going to be okay.

Sometimes things are hard.

Sometimes things hurt.

Sometimes we are afraid.

This is about recognizing when our own fear, our own stories, and our own catastrophizing are creating more suffering than is actually necessary.

Sometimes we get so caught up in what might happen that we are causing ourselves pain over something that hasn't even happened.

Sometimes we're so busy trying to protect ourselves from a possible outcome that we're not actually present for what is happening right now.

And sometimes, we are getting in our own way.

Not because we're doing anything wrong.

But because fear has taken over the filter.

So what happens when we step back?

What happens when we look through a different lens?

Think about a situation—past or present—in your own life.

How are you, or how did you, view that situation?

Were you left with your mind spinning the scenarios out of control?

Were you feeling into the doom of it?

Were you catastrophizing an outcome that hadn't actually happened?

Were you giving your power away to the situation without really recognizing that you were doing it?

Were you seeing yourself as the victim of the circumstances?

Or were you able to step back?

To look at it through a different lens?

To see the bigger picture?

To listen to what your heart was saying beneath all of the noise?

To consider that perhaps there was more happening than what you could see in that moment?

So I ask you...

What filter are you looking through right now?

Not what should you be seeing.

Not what would be the most positive way to look at it.

But honestly...

What filter are you using?

Because sometimes, the circumstances don't need to change.

Sometimes, we need to change the perspective from which we're looking at them.

And when we do, we may be surprised by how dramatically different the landscape can look.

With love,

Wendy