Our perceptions - our personal experiences, memories, and beliefs - matter more to most of us than the perceptions of others. Differences and conflicts arise even when we do our best to limit our perceptions to "objective reality" or to "common sense." Our differences, including the infinite set of purely subjective experiences - dreams, goals, yearnings, ideas, whimsy - make me me and you you.
Honoring our perceptions and experiences while being open-minded and willing, even eager, to grow is important! It takes courage, and increases courage, to do so. It takes guts to refuse to let peer pressure, fear or anxiety eclipse our truths from our own consciousness and, when appropriate, from one another.
