“What did you learn from this experience?”
“I learned that my mind controls my reality. My mind controls my reality!”
-Excerpt from “Children of Dune” by Frank Herbert
One day I was on a walk with my teenage daughter and in the course of the conversation I said something like this:
“What you are able to accomplish in life has a lot to do with how you see and understand the world. Opportunity abounds for those that are born into homes with a broader perspective. For those born with a limited view of the world those opportunities seem impossible, and indeed they are unless and until their viewpoint changes.”
I remember where I was on the walk when I said it. I think it was something I had been noticing for a while but the moment I said it I was struck that it was true. When I got home, I wrote it down.
Since that time, I have rubbed up against this concept a few times. Each time in slightly different ways and I gain more insight.
Worldview
This concept, called “worldview”, has a profound impact on the reality we live in.
“A worldview is a collection of attitudes, values, stories and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action.”
That’s a solid definition but here are some alternate descriptions of worldview so you can see it from different angles:
- Worldview is the lens by which we see the world
- Worldview is the model or pattern that explains what we see, hear, and learn
- Worldview is our personal understanding of how the world works
- Our worldview is a combination of our experience, knowledge, accepted truths, relationships, and culture
As such, when our worldview changes, so does our world. In some sense this is obvious, yet we forget it all the time. We forget that what we call “real” is defined by how we see it. The same thing, or place, or person, is viewed differently by people with different worldviews.
Still, our worldview is only part of how our mind defines our reality. The other part is how we see ourselves.
Self-view
“We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.”
-Anaïs Nin
“How you see yourself, along with how you use what you have, is often more important than talents, skills, or even supernatural abilities.”
-Brandon Sanderson in preface to “Legion”.
I love these quotes because they put self-perception in the driver’s seat where it belongs. We think talent, intelligence, political prowess, athleticism, or physical appearance defines us. Attributes yes, but they do not define us. What defines us, more than anything else, is our own self-perception.
Our mind determines who we are, and our worldview interprets what we see. Together, they form our reality.
The beautiful thing is, once we accept this, our self-view and our worldview are completely and utterly within our power to improve.
If you want to expand your worldview here is a list of ideas:
https://dreamsingear.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Expand-Your-Worldview.pdf
If you want to explore your self-view, here is an exercise to try:
https://dreamsingear.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Self-View-Analysis.pdf
Keep moving, keep dreaming.
-Jon
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