Perception is...

The normal completion to that phrase is the word "reality" and it's normally used in reference to someone's complaint. The individual being complained about will claim innocence and the complainer will say "that's not how I saw that" and then the phrase flies in...

Well, perception is reality. If that's how they perceived it, it was real to them. What usually follows is a caveat about how we say something or present ourselves to others. Be careful...perception is reality!

I thought about this phrase after a conversation I had with a co-worker. We were talking about how we had handled circumstances in our early careers as supervisors and how our attitudes had changed over time. We both have learned the lesson of the Serenity Prayer - knowing the difference between the things we can and cannot change.

Toward the end of our talk, my co-worker said " you are a good man...a spiritual man...I'm not nearly as spiritual as you." To be honest, I was taken aback. I try my best to be a nice guy and live according to the precepts of my faith, but feel I fall short many times. For someone I work with to make a statement like that humbled me. I can only hope that what they say is true:

Perception is Reality!