Yesterday when looking into my crystal bowl I predicted love affairs across Europe -- a very effective weapon in the war on Brexit. Today I have another prediction to make for you. Can you feel the magic of my crystal ball? Great. Ready for it? I predict that you are partially blind, or about to become so, unless you change your glasses.
No, I'm not talking about your eyes. I'm talking about how you view the world. You see, yesterday was Midsummer's Eve in Sweden. Midsummer's Eve used to be a celebration of fertility, which is why the Vikings, or their ancestors, decided to create a giant penis dressed in flowers and dance around it. You're also supposed to roll naked in the morning dew, but most people have forgotten about that, just as they've forgotten that the Maypole is a symbol for a penis. Instead they focus on making flower garlands for the Maypole and dancing around it, eating pickled herring, drinking schnapps and celebrating summer.
When you've done, or seen, something for long enough you tend to forget why it came to be in the first place. It wasn't till my teens that I started wondering why we celebrate the things we do. And not until my twenties that I realized that certain words have the same meaning, like "vind" (meaning both "wind" and "attic") and "gift" (meaning both "married" and "poison," but not because marriage is poison, but because both stems from "giving").
Taking things for granted, or getting so used to them you don't question them, is probably part of survival -- you can't constantly question your thoughts, or your judgment. However, there are times when we do need to question what we say, do and experience.
I celebrated Midsummer's Eve with my family this year, which a rare occurrence as I'm usually in either London, L.A. or Cape Town. Being home brings back memories. And spending the evening with family friends, many who have known me since I was a few days old, made me reflect on a few things. Mainly how I used to see the world and how I see it now.
As a child I was petrified of big celebrations and parties, because I was petrified of what people thought of me. Whilst most people would look forward to parties, I was so ashamed of myself, thinking people didn't like me (a combination of mom dying, bullies and a step-mom I didn't get along with, twisted my perception of self), that I thought them gruesome. I never knew what to say, or do.
Yesterday, being back with the same people, in the same place, made me reflect on how differently I see things today, but also how my brain sometimes goes into autopilot and start fretting about something that has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with perception.
The truth is, perceptions are often misleading. We have one bad experience in a town and we judge the whole town as bad. We meet someone once and because they behave a certain way that one time, we write them off as always being that way. And once we have a perception of something, we let it color our experiences moving forward, just like my wonky perception of self colored my entire childhood and still colors some of my life today.
In a similar manner we tend to take the people in our life for granted and assume they are still the same people they were yesterday. Relationships fall apart because we don't pay attention.
If we don't watch out we simply become blind to reality.
You choose what color glasses you view the world through -- opportunity, love, understanding -- all those things can add beautiful color to your life, whilst presuming negative things can have a lot of not-so-good consequences for your life.
Personally I vow to ask myself why I feel the way I do more often, to prevent my own prediction of coming true. After all, I'd rather see than be a seer... but if I am a seer, I predict... let's see... a lot of chocolate cake on the horizon. With a medium to high chance of whipped cream.
This blog was first published on Confessions of a Dizzy Blonde -- politically incorrect musings on life, sprinkled with humor and... sex.