All is not always as it seems!

All is not always as it seems!

When I saw this scene, I knew immediately that I had to take this picture……..and it worked out exactly as I had hoped.

When you look at the picture, what do you see? Well, I see a wall with a picture of a tree painted on it……but in fact the tree is real and is growing in the garden several feet in front of the wall. The reason for the confusion in the mind is partly down to the fact that the tree is covered in the same lime green coloured lichen that covers the wall and this makes the whole thing slightly surreal. It just grabbed my eye as I was walking past!

But it made me think that life is like that and very often things are not as they immediately seem. Text messages, for instance, are notoriously bad and it is very easy to misunderstand what people are saying. This is because communication is multi-faceted and it is as much about body language and the way something is said as the words that are actually used. Text messages rely on purely the words which is why it is easy to misunderstand and perhaps take offence where none was intended.

That’s just one example but there are many others. You might hear raised voices and think there is a big argument going on whereas in fact one person is in danger and the other is just shouting a warning to them. The sound of a car horn can mean aggression or it can simply mean ‘thank you’ – they both sound the same. I remember a time when my elderly neighbours used to walk their dog every day and we got used to seeing them in the street. When we didn’t see them for several days, I went round to see if they were ok, fearing that they were ill, only to find that they were fine and it was the dog who was unwell. Obviously in that instance there was nothing wrong with my going round to see if they were ok, but you hopefully get my drift.

Misunderstandings happen all the time in life, sometimes with drastic consequences so perhaps we just need to remind ourselves to wait before jumping in as all is not always as it seems!

Thanks for visiting Time to Reflect and for reflecting with me.

(All words and pictures on this site are copyright of Terry Yarrow and must not be reproduced without permission)

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