The Perception of One

Originally posted on Feb 25, 2022 on medium.com/@shamandao

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

One of my earliest memories of perception happened in high school. My Spanish teacher showed us a picture of a man and asked us to tell him what we saw.

I kept it simple, “It’s a man with a red beard.” I liked it, but it wasn’t Picasso. What struck me as odd was “Anna”’s answer. A Mexican girl who sat two rows from me said,, “I see a dirty old man.”

Atthat moment, I sensed her cringe as she shifted her body. My Spanish teacher looked uncomfortable.

I didn’t know it then, but her perception of the Van Gogh painting reflected what she felt about men who looked like that. My heart tugged because she didn’t have to say anything else, myself and our teacher understood her energy.

Energy speaks before you do.

It was only when I trained in hypnotherapy was the term, perception, brought up formally. Through the hundreds of hours of sessions I’ve had over the years, perception and misperception played a big part in how my clients and the human race perceived the world.

One client felt abandoned his entire life in a loving family with a doting mother. Come to find out in regression, when he woke up from his nap in his crib, his mother was not there. A sense of fear washed over him as he perceived his mother had abandoned him.

She was cooking in the kitchen while he napped. Because of the meaning attached to this experience, he carried the low vibrational feeling of loneliness and abandonment well into his thirties. We were able to regress him back to the first time he felt abandoned to neutralize the low vibrational feeling. Then wiped the misperception by viewing all of it in a higher perspective.

It’s amazing how one split second can change the course of one’s life by how we perceive it.

Recently, I’ve come to interact with people in my life from Facebook friends’ to family friends who have perceived me in a negative light. So I did what I knew was best. I let them think whatever they want of me. If someone thinks I’m the worst person in the world, so be it. If someone thinks I’m the best person in the world (probably my rescue), so be it.

It has nothing to do with me because I am living art. I am a walking Van Gogh painting for those to witness grace and color. Unless I purposely did something harmful towards them (which is not how I roll), how they perceive me is up to them.

These recent interactions reminded me of an incredible story of the perception of one a few years back.

I was called in to perform an emergency exorcism on a man who was in and out of psychiatric hospitals and regular hospitals in Europe. I would have never accepted this case but my power-hungry assistant took the mentally ill client behind my back. The energetic entanglement which ensued needed my assistance. After one hour in his home, it was done, for the time being.

This case also included black magic seeds planted by the mentally ill client’s mistress. It was messy.

His family thanked me for bringing back their son as his eyes were finally clear. We left.

Fast forward two weeks later, it came to light that this same man did not like me or trust me because I charged my minimum for black magic and exorcism requests. He perceived me as a ‘bad person,’ for taking money from someone who needed help.

I blessed all of that and let it go.

Some months later, I met a wonderful woman who fed street dogs on my walk home. I asked her a few questions and then fundraised money for seven large bags of dog food weighing twenty-kilos each. A grand total of three hundred and eight pounds of dog food.

I continued this friendship with this woman and even joined her in feeding the dogs daily. Periodically buying other large bags of dog food to donate. She was and is such a lovely person to give her time, energy, and even her own money to these street dogs. She even forewent having coffee to buy hot dogs for the street dogs.

Two different people, two different experiences, one me.

I didn’t know this until four months later, but the exorcism client and the woman who fed the dogs were from the same family. He despised me and she thought I was an angel sent from God.

When I met her, she was running out of food and energy to feed the street dogs who depended on her.

Right after the seven bags were donated, five more were donated from various other channels. This woman was shocked at how smooth everything flowed. We even had to rearrange space in her one-bedroom apartment for all the twenty-kilo bags.

When I found out they were related, I sat with it and shook my head. I’m pretty sure I even giggled a bit. Because I used to be a people pleaser. I used to want people to like me and felt guilty when they didn’t.

Someone recently told me they took everything I said with a grain of salt. I didn’t bat an eyelash. I get it, my life is different from many others. My stories sound doubtful at times, hell, sometimes I doubt what reality I’m living in. *Interdimensional journeying joke*

But the stories I tell aren’t just me, they’re almost always with another person. I have a trail of witnesses sprinkled worldwide. They’re there, hidden in plain sight but there.

I used to feel desperate for love and attention and likes. But now? I bless those people who perceive me in whatever way they want. I bless the ones who perceive me in a positive light and especially those who see me in a negative light.

What I learned from going viral on Tik Tok last year was that no matter who you are, what you say, what intention you have going in and what you do, there will ALWAYS be someone with a negative perception and comment. ALWAYS. And then there will ALWAYS be those who vibe with you and cheer you on.

I bless them all because I’m living my life, doing what I love, with people I love who support me. I really don’t care as much as I used to as I live and breathe my truth.

And that’s huge. Coming from a first-generation immigrant Vietnamese family who taught me to put others first, this time and forever, I put myself first. I put my faith in myself and walk this Earth plane with dignity and integrity. I walk this path to continue every single day and those who get it, will.

Many others won’t. I’m okay with it. Actually, I’m more than okay, I’m A-1 (not the steak sauce).

Urban Dictionary:
A-1
Meaning good, on point