“That orange house sure stands out,” I say to my significant other as we walk the dogs the other day on a new route in the neighbourhood.
“Which orange house?” he replies.
How does he not see the only orange structure in sight?
I point to the one dwelling that I perceive as clearly being cantaloupe-coloured, “The only orange house, right there.”
“You think that house is orange?” he asks with a confused expression on his face. “That house isn’t orange; it’s beige.”
How fascinating!
This is not an unusual event for us. Just today, we experienced another one of our colour clashes: I would swear the pants he wore were charcoal grey and he would swear they were navy blue.
These are colourful examples of how the two of us perceive the world differently. Each and every one of us does, and not just when it comes to the colour of things, but when it comes to everything.
Even when it comes to a mutual interaction—like seeing the same house or pair of pants, or tasting the same meal, or participating in a shared conversation—our observations, perspectives, and experiences differ from one another.
Because we’re immersed in our own perspective and lived experience, it’s easy to forget that every other person we interact with is immersed in theirs, which is different from ours.
We can choose to convince ourselves that our way of perceiving and experiencing the world is the right way and force it into the centre of all of our interactions.
Or we can choose to get curious and care about how others perceive and experience the world and make space to centre multiple, diverse perspectives.
By choosing this latter option, not only do we enrich our own perspective and experience, we also make space for connection, trust, shared understanding, learning, and collaboration. This kind of space is a fertile ground for creativity and innovation.
