For many years, I believed that to be happy, I needed to have all the things that most societies consider as signs of success. I was convinced that my happiness depended on my academic, financial, family, and relationship success, among other things. I made considerable efforts to obtain all these things in order to feel the joy and happiness I had not yet experienced. I pursued this happiness relentlessly.

But the closer I got to it, the more it seemed to elude me. I was like those racing dogs who are enticed with a lure they hope to catch but that continues to escape them no matter how fast they run.

My life changed radically when I learned through the Holy Scriptures that what a person feels inside does not depend on their circumstances but rather on the quality of the eye observing these circumstances. Jesus said this in Matthew 6:22-23:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23

This verse helped me understand that I do not need to endure the dictatorship of societies, the media, culture, and others because I am capable of choosing my emotions by choosing my perception. If a perception does not allow me to feel the emotion I am seeking, I simply change it. This is how I began to see myself as the happiest and most privileged man in the world.

Being the happiest man in the world, I consider that everything that happens to me contributes to my happiness. This perception of myself and everything around me truly made me the happiest man in the world.

The Friend Proud of His Purchase

One of my friends called me one day to tell me he had done some work in his kitchen. My friend was very satisfied with the work done by the contractor. He was convinced he had gotten a good deal because the amount he paid the contractor was reasonable. I was very happy for this friend and promised to visit to see the kitchen and share his joy over a meal.

The day I visited him as promised, I found a very angry and downcast person. When I asked him why he looked that way, he told me that he had learned from another friend that the contractor had charged him almost a thousand euros more than the normal rate. In other words, my friend was furious and dejected because he felt he had been scammed. I told him he did not have to be angry just because he might have paid a little more than the work’s value.

I explained to him that it was not because of the contractor that he was angry, but because of his perception of what had happened. I told him that if I were in his place, I would consider that I had been a blessing to the contractor. I should feel honored to have been a blessing to the contractor because when people use me, I consider that I am functioning normally according to the Bible, which says of me that I am the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

If my friend had seen himself as a source of blessings, he certainly would not have gotten angry. Just as a tree does not get angry when someone eats its fruits without even saying thank you, a person who sees themselves as a source of blessings does not get angry when someone uses them. It is not the fact of having paid much more that produces negative emotions, but rather the perception of oneself and others that determines how we feel in such a context.

The Woman Eating a Stranger’s Biscuits

During one of his conferences, the famous American writer Wayne Dyer told the story of a woman who was at the airport waiting for her flight. While she was sitting in one of the waiting rooms with other travelers, she decided to buy some biscuits from a small kiosk about ten meters away.

Once the biscuits were purchased, the woman went back to sit in the waiting room next to another traveler. When the woman started to nibble on the biscuits placed on a small table near her, she noticed that her neighbor regularly dipped his hand into the biscuit bag and took some to eat. The woman became furious because she did not understand how this stranger could take her biscuits without permission.

As the man continued to take the biscuits, the woman became more and more irritated. She even started cursing this traveler in her heart. When only one biscuit was left and the traveler offered to split it in half, she was outraged. Nevertheless, she managed to contain herself. A few minutes later, when she was already on the plane, the woman decided to open her handbag to take out a book.

She was stunned to find that the packet of biscuits she had bought at the airport kiosk had never left her bag. She realized that she had wrongly gotten angry at her neighbor in the waiting room. This story once again shows how perception determines emotions. This woman was angry because her perception of the traveler was negative. She saw him as a thief and an ingrate, whereas in reality, she was the ungrateful thief…

This text is an excerpt from the book “DIVINE PERCEPTION: Perceive Well to Succeed Better” written by Dominique MBOG.

We invite you to read the following article “Adopting a Good Perception.“

The Eye