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The reality of a place cannot be completely understood from the map. Our perception of the world around us shapes our mental map. Therefore our mental map is defiantly different from the real world. By reading this article you will find out how your mental map is created and how to live a better life by developing it.
This topic refers to the fact that way we see the world is shaped by our mental map. However it may differs from the way we see it. The difference between a place and the map was first stated by Alfred Korzybski a polish-American semanticist and founder of General Semantics who contributed to NLP in 1933. He realized when you compare a road map with the road itself you will be a little confused and you’ll notice the differences between them. He says that seeing the realities (like seeing a road itself) and thinking about it (seeing the road map) can be a little bit confusing for most people.
A map is not the territory
Can the menu and the meal itself be compared? Of course you can’t eat the menu as a meal! There is a big difference between them. In fact it’s not possible to put every element of a land in a map. Based on the type of the map many elements such as the ups and downs of an area are excluded.
Each person based on their own experiences and senses have different perceptions of the world around them and unfortunately or fortunately no one can comprehend the reality around the world. People’s level of understanding depends on different aspects such as values, beliefs, abilities, talents, environment and experiences.
Our mind is programmed with the map given. And from that moment we use the map over and over and every time we tend to use it even more. Using it too much may causes discomfort or danger. In other words it might do more harm than good yet mistakenly we do as the map says.
Imagine someone is headed toward California from Kansas since he’s familiar with the Kansas’s map prefers to use that map for California too. That’s the difference! We mostly do not understand we cannot use the same map for every place. It must be considered there is no map that shows the whole reality either and also they can get old and outdated.
Maps are not adaptable and they are fixed like pictures, whereas landscapes are dynamic like rivers. They may become useful at a time in our lives but not every time! They can be really limiting sometimes and perhaps are not helpful at another time and place.
Let’s say this belief that in order to be safe it’s better to stay home becomes a mental map during someone’s childhood, this belief may not be so limiting during the childhood but it’ll affect their adulthood greatly. Therefore each mental map should be useful just for a certain time.
People show their inner world with the things they actually create. They react more to mental or internal experiences rather than the outer reality. In fact mental maps are the inner reality. Therefor the interpretations we make based on the reality may or may not be true. These interpretations make our life experiences at any moment. These experiences are to make the results in our future. In other words our future is build up with the mental outcome patterns of our previous experiences. The more changes we make to those patterns, the more options we have and the more feasible they are the more different future we can have.
“The Magical Number Seven” paper was published in 1956 by the psychologist George A. Miller. According to this paper we are only capable of receiving information from outside world at amount of 7±2 at a time. In particular for the most people it’s limited to 3 or 4 pieces of information. It’s impossible to absorb all information around you and comprehend it at that moment as the old saying; what a piece of bread looks like depends on whether you are hungry or not.
We are aware of some of these facts but just some not all. A good mental map is the one which benefits you. It doesn’t necessarily need to be perfect. The benefits matter. A useful map is the one that helps you achieve your desires.
A good mental map is the one which benefits you
There are different ways to improve your map which we will discuss them in the following. With those ways you will be able to improve your mental map and change your perspective to the world.
To develop your mental map ask yourself this question; how can I see the opportunities in a different way? A white light can be seen as different colors using a proper filter.
Our experiences are filtered out and are being saved through our senses and mental filters so as the result our mental map is created. And this map mostly determines our perspective of life. The mental map could either make us powerful or limit us. It also can make a task easy to do for someone and make it impossible for another one.
Maps are unique and they only belong to one person. Although they are different in each person they may share some common features or maybe none. Our mental map is being formed since the first day we were born (it’s said that it may starts even before birth) and gets bigger and developed through time.
When the water is filtered, the filter doesn’t remove every particle in it. It’s as the same for information. Since we are surrounded with loads of information. The brain is capable of filtering the information in order to prevent the overloading and it’s the main reason why each everybody has their own unique mental map. So we sometimes use the word reality instead of map. Because inner reality of each person (inner map) is made out of many reasons. They believe their own perception of the world is more accurate and closer to the outer reality.
When you disagree with someone or you cannot understand why they do unimaginable things, it’s better for you to put yourself in their shoes and try to see the world through their eyes. This will help you to become familiar with their mental map.
Given the fact that our mental structure are similar but the maps and therefore our actions are different we can’t expect people to think and act like us. In fact this is one of our socializing problems especially when we try to impose our mental map on others. Now that we are aware of that we can see the world differently and respect other’s attitude and perspective.
In order to make connection with other people and get the desired outcomes try to get to know some of their elements of their mental map. In this case start with a situation that you think it’ll correspond to their values and beliefs in order to build a rapport. it will get you anywhere you want. Think of somethings which lead you toward them.
Fine the limited boundaries and places in your mental map. Think of things that you either can’t or don’t want to do, where and how you don’t receive the desired results? or the things you don’t like. Find Beliefs that stop you. For instance many refuse to exercise or do such activities just because they think they are not physically fit for any sport.
Find out where and when you tend to generalize or even overgeneralize matters. In that cases you need to look for the revers examples of those matters. Because most of the time there are no exceptions to those generalities. Whenever you can’t do a task or you don’t like to do it ask yourself what would happen if I did that.
