How real is your reality?

Below is an excerpt of an article written by Joseph F McCaffrey MD, FACS. Dr. Joe McCaffrey is a board certified surgeon with a special interest in alternative and complementary medicine. He strives to help people reach their maximum level of health and vitality. Visit his website here for a guide to vital living.

Here’s a concept for you to consider.

Our experience of the world isn’t what’s out there; it’s what we perceive to be out there. That means our reality can be quite arbitrary because we sense the outside world through filters. These filters exist beneath our conscious mind. Most people aren’t even aware they’re there. Yet they determine just what we perceive and therefore determine our reality. We need these filters – we couldn’t possibly keep track of all the information coming in otherwise.

For example, if I asked you what your right foot feels like right now, you could tell me. It feels warm or cool or you shoe’s too tight or it’s comfortable or whatever. The point is you could immediately tell me. Yet a moment before I asked, you weren’t aware of your foot. How did that happen? What changed? Is there a little switch in your brain that turned on the nerves to your foot when I asked the question so you could answer it?

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