PATHLIGHT: To See More Clearly
Originally from the U.S., Annie earned her Canadian Citizenship in 2013. Annie & her Husband live in Pic River First Nation. She works as full-time as an Adult Mental Health and Addictions Therapist at the Marathon office of North of Superior Counseling Programs. Annie Wenger-Nabigon, MSW, RSW has been a cinical social worker since 1979 working in mental health, family therapy, and addictions services. She is a doctoral candidate at Laurentian University in Sudbury, ON. Annie also works part-time as a consultant for LYNX, owned by her husband Herb Nabigon, MSW. Herb provides traditional Anishnabek teachings and healing workshops for both Native and non-Native organizations. Together he and Annie provide training and education to professionals on a wide range of topics blending mainstream and traditional approaches in healing. They also provide cultural safety and anti-racism training. Do you have questions re: dealing with loss, mental health, living a good life, relationships, etc. ?Annie would love to hear them and may even include your questions in a future column (published every other Sunday, exclusively on OntarioNewsNorth.com) Send your questions to Annie via email to Pathlight@OntarioNewsNorth.com if you prefer to remain anonymous, specify this in your letter.
Annie Wenger-Nabigon, MSW, RSW
There is a term used in psychiatric lingo to describe the experience of not seeing or perceiving things accurately – perceptual distortion. To perceive something is to know or comprehend it clearly, accurately, as it truly is. To distort something is to change it into something that it is not. Perceptual distortions –not perceiving what is real – can happen for many reasons and exist on a continuum from normal to not normal. When they are so serious that we can no longer function in reality we need help to do reality checks and rebalance our ways of reasoning. Sometimes psychotropic medication can help to restore proper functioning of brain chemistry and eliminate or reduce perceptual distortions.
I heard a funny story from a man who had a perceptual distortion one time when he was out hunting. The light was very dim on the road where he was walking when he suddenly became aware of a moose standing off in the distance. He was sure he could make the shot, in fact he was so sure that when the moose failed to drop, the man quickly fired off two more rounds just to make doubly certain. To his great frustration, the moose stayed standing still, not moving even when he got close enough to see that it wasn’t a moose at all, but a stop sign. Imagine his embarrassment as he stood before a large red stop sign with three holes in it! He had had a perceptual distortion!
We all know what it is like when our first glance sends one piece of information to our brain, which quickly appraises it and gives us a label for what we see, and our second glance gives our brain more information and lets us know that our first reality was completely incorrect. Have you ever seen someone you thought you knew only to discover a stranger? Brains are wonderful things and can do these computations in lightning speed so that we usually do not even have time to feel distress about having to change our idea about what we have seen.
What happens when what we know about our reality in general turns out to be completely wrong? Can you imagine how European people must have felt when they first learned that the earth was not flat, but was in fact, round, and that it was possible for ships to sail completely around the world and not fall off? This is an example of something much bigger than a simpler perceptual distortion, or a psychiatric symptom of being out of touch with reality. It is called a paradigm shift. That is what happens when a whole worldview completely shifts to incorporate an entirely new level of thinking about things differently.
I think people are now on the cusp of a new paradigm shift in how we view ourselves and the earth. Our perceptions of who we are, and what life is all about, are changing. Our understanding of human relationship with the earth is changing. Humans around the world are able to exchange photos, letters, wealth, and navigate relationships in entirely new ways as a result of the internet. Information is being exchanged at lightning speed in ways that outpace even our own brains being able to accurately perceive and manage what is happening. This is a new demand on human minds and hearts that did not exist in any previous generation, and we do not yet know what possible outcomes may be realized as a result, or where this will take us. The potential for perceptual distortion is almost overwhelming.
When a paradigm shift is occurring it takes brave, strong and creative approaches to being able to weather the changes and do it in a good way. There are steps which we can take to help ourselves and future generations to make this paradigm shift in a good way. The first step is to nurture healthy human relationships with love, which means we need to cherish and love ourselves and all of life. The next steps are to actively do all those things which will ensure the health of the natural systems of the world around us, and eliminate exploitation of people and the earth. We need to move toward sustainability in all the areas of “The Good Life” – emotional, social, cognitive, physical, and spiritual. We need to educate ourselves about responsibility and sharing.
I’d like to ask my readers to think about ideas related to these big changes, and email me a few sentences (only a few – I can’t read long letters!) on the topic of making good changes and being able to deal with perceptual changes. If humans have perceptual distortions about reality and change, what can we do to help ourselves and others do reality checks and stay balanced? My friend who thought he was shooting a moose was wrong – he had to face a big stop sign with holes. Do we humans have to face a big stop sign, and the holes in our lives and our perceptual distortions, and think again about the choices we make to live in reality? What is real for you?
For me, one thing helps me see clearly and will not give me perceptual distortions – love. Caring for myself, the people I know, the natural world around me, and working on healthy relationships to the best of my ability is the way to keep doing the hard work of love. It is basically all I really have to offer. As we head into a holiday season celebrating love it is a good time to think about perceiving things as they really are and making loving choices. I’m interested in hearing how other people work to reduce perceptual distortion of their realities and stay focused on seeing things as they really are. Let me hear from you!
Annie Wenger-Nabigon, MSW, RSW
Pathlight@OntarioNewsNorth.com
ANNIE RECOMMENDS:
- The Hollow Tree by Herb Nabigon
- EldersTeachings.blogspot.com
- Pathlight: Journey to a Good Life archives
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*Health themed columns found on OntarioNewsNorth.com provide general information about medical conditions and treatments. The information is not advice, and should not be treated as such. If you have any specific questions about any mental health or other medical matter, please consult your family physician, primary health care team or other professional healthcare provider.
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