Hi, welcome to Radio Headspace. I'm Keisonga and it is Friday. So happy Friday.

So the other day in a current occurred with my daughter, they got me to thinking about

our thoughts and perceptions, specifically how our thoughts and perceptions play a role

and how we experience our everyday lives. My youngest daughter is 13 years old and she's

a firecracker. On this particular day, I came downstairs from my office to get a quick

drink of water and then headed back up to get into my work. I had kept my ear pods in and

the music I was writing to was still going and so I really couldn't hear much of anything.

My daughter was in the kitchen making herself some lunch. I kissed her on the cheek and

hugged her quickly. I got my water and then was on my way back upstairs. All of a sudden

I heard her scream, Papa, aren't you even listening to me? You don't even care about

what I'm saying. I was stunned. I abruptly took the pods out of my ears, feeling totally

confused. When she saw me take the pods out of my ears, I saw a look of understanding

and sorrow come across my daughter's face. She immediately apologized for yelling because

yeah, I also had a very stern look on my face. I forgave her for yelling and she repeated

her story to me. Afterwards, I took the opportunity to have a conversation with her about our perceptions

and thoughts. As we go through our everyday lives, we are constantly interpreting each

minute. It's often on the subconscious level, but then we have those events that impact

us on a very conscious level and these events usually involve other people. And if we're

not careful and mindful, we can reflexively react inappropriately to these events. And

there's a common saying in the mindfulness world, our thoughts aren't facts. Mindfulness

teaches us to create space between our perceptions, interpretations and thoughts and our reactions.

And this way we shift into that space of responding, which often entails a more appropriate

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