The other day, during meditation, the question that is the title of this week’s experiment drifted into my mind.  The thought of orienting myself in this way throughout the day captivated my imagination, and I began working with the question that morning.  Later that morning, I walked through Central Park, as usual, and came upon a woman sitting on a bench with her face in the sun, looking relaxed and at ease.   A sweet dachshund dog sat happily in her lap, looking up at her.  He or she was snuggled in and looked very contented.  As I walked by, I felt that this was a fine example of orienting to love and experienced it as a gift from love that found me early in the day.  As the day progressed, I found myself thinking, “What will love show, teach or give me next?”  It has become a mantra I carry with me and offers me a filter for experiencing the day that has been quite delightful.

The thing about choosing what kind of filter you want to have in place as you engage the day is that it supports perceiving the qualities implied by the filter itself.  For example, when you wear sunglasses, sometimes they have a brownish tint, sometimes green, sometimes gray.  Whatever the color of the sunglasses, it affects everything you see around you until you take off the glasses.  It’s the same with choosing a thought, or filter, to have in the front of your mind.  It colors everything you experience.

And so, for this week’s experiment, I invite you to  play with the power of choosing what kind of filter you want to have in place for the day – the quality with which you want to perceive what comes your way.  Begin each day with the question:  “What does love (or whatever quality you’ve chosen for that day) have to show, teach or give me today?”  Then, notice what happens as you move through the day with this question in the front of your mind.

We tend to unconsciously filter out lots of what goes on in our world.  Our brains have evolved to pay attention only to certain things and let others go by unnoticed.  In this experiment, you have an opportunity to make a more conscious choice about what you want to take into your awareness, and it can make a big difference by the end of the day if you’ve spent your time focused on something like love, or if you’ve found yourself staring at fear all day. 

For many people, the primary filter through which they perceive the world is characterized by fear or lack.   Shifting from something like fear to love is like beginning to lift weights.  The process requires you to be conscious and mindful about what you’re doing, and it may take some real attention and effort to keep coming back to the question, “What does love have to show, teach or give me today?”  If you find yourself having to remind yourself again and again to shift to love, that’s completely normal and is an essential part of the process of choosing what kind of filter you want to have in the foreground of your awareness.

As with all the experiments, enjoy this one and give yourself enough time with it to notice whatever changes it creates in your body-mind state of being, in the quality of how you move through your day, and in the way you feel by the end of the day having focused on love instead of fear, lack or worry.  And, remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion in order to more openly and consciously receive the gifts of whatever quality you’ve chosen as your filter for the day.