Perceptions and Realities

I found the Social Construction of Reality difficult to read and apply to my life. It felt more of a technical piece than the others. With that, though, I did relate to the various ways our own reality can be shaped based on what we know, what we are surrounded with, etc.

The discussion on perceptions was very interesting to me; I feel it is so important to recognize the factors that can shape and change ones perception of a situation. It can change the dynamics and understanding of a conversation drastically.

I was also interested in the discussion on visualization. When I was college swimmer, we would have to do that before big races. At the time, I thought it was silly - we all did! We would gather in a room and find as spot on the floor away from our teammates. My coach would describe the meet we were about to compete in and we would need to imagine being there. He would tell us to go through our biggest races - the one we had been training for the most - and think about every detail of how it would go. Sometimes I would do but not completely. I might not think about the temperature of the water in my visualization and when the race came that would throw me off. After studying this technique more since then, I can see how it can be a positive influence on perceptions in communications as well as ways of forming outcomes that you want.