"People see only what they are prepared to see."

I put this collage on the inside of a birthday card for a friend that celebrates her birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Rola!

You will notice that on my previous posted collage and on this one, I used the same quotation. In fact, I used the quotation as the title of this post as well. This quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What I find most interesting is yesterday I received an email that illustrated this quote for me. The email came from someone I have known for several years but with whom I am not in frequent contact. She had known me somewhat intimately in the past but we have not spoken in person for at least 4 years, and we rarely exchange emails. In her email, she assumes that I am exactly the same as I was when she knew me--and that my reactions to situations could not change and certainly have not changed.

As I read her email, I realized that everyone tends to categorize people in their lives and, likewise, everyone tends to keep those people boxed in by those categories. And that's one possible interpretation of the Emerson quote. We can't possibly see changes in people if we are only prepared to see what we have always seen, if we wear the blinders of our categorizations and definitions.

I am grateful that I received this woman's email because it confirmed the importance of this quote. Since I used it both on my Vision Collage and the collage I posted here and then received this email that illumined the quote, I believe the Universe is sending me a message: In what areas are you (meaning me, of course) unprepared to see changes or unusual vistas or challenging thoughts and ideas?

That's the question that will on the "front burner" of my life as I go through 2009.

--Vicky :o)

Collage: "The Key to Change"

Copyright © 2009 by Vicky Lynn Macchione