How do you connect with reality?

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Does your reflection feel real to you?

The way you look at the world around you is a reflection of your emotions, sensations, and beliefs.

When you feel irritated, everything you see can seem exaggerated in a negative way.

When you feel at peace, you're more able to appreciate the little details around you and see beauty in more things.

What you may not realise is that you can choose to look at your life differently.

Try this exercise now:

Think back to a moment when you felt frustrated — perhaps something as simple as public transport not running on time, or something you wanted to buy being out of stock...

Now revisit that memory, but this time imagine that the transport arrived on time and the item you wanted was available.

How did you feel in the first version? And how did you feel in the second?

Probably a sense of discomfort followed by a feeling of lightness.

But neither version is real.

Your memory of the frustrating moment is a mental construction you've chosen to hold on to — perhaps to protect yourself from similar situations in the future. And the imagined version is also a mental creation, one you’ve just made now and could choose to keep because it brought you peace and calm.

Even if your frustration was intense, choosing to hold on to that emotion and mentally replay the situation again and again won’t help you — it will only perpetuate the negative emotions you experienced, and this time you’ll be doing it voluntarily.

So here’s what I’d like to suggest: Start doing the opposite.
Whenever you recall a negative memory, try revisiting it and imagining a different ending.

In doing so, you’ll gradually begin to dissolve the emotional charge connected to those memories — and allow yourself to live with more ease and lightness.

Choose to look at your life differently, because the past can’t be changed —
but the future can.