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What? Nothing in the fridge but a lemon! You examine it in the palm of your hand. You close
your eyes and you can indeed smell its zesty, clean, crisp fragrance. Doesn't it have a pretty
lemon yellow colour? You can feel the texture of the lemon lightly with the pads of your fingers.
Doesn't it feel lumpy?
Now, squeeze it and feel the consistency. Smell it again. Hold it up to your nose and take a
deep breath. Imagine you can hear yourself say, “Isn't that a pretty lemon? Doesn't it smell
fantastic?”

Now, I'd like you to, in your mind,
take a knife from the drawer and cut
a slice from the lemon. Take the slice
and squeeze it until the juice is
dripping down your fingers? Good.
It's easier to smell the free-flowing
juice. Now, take that slice and place
it in your mouth, just in your mouth,
not on your tongue.

Doesn't it smell fresh?
OK, do you feel the juices dripping
on to your tongue? Great. Now, set
the lemon slice on your tongue.

Oooh, can you taste that tangy
juice? Great.
Now back to reality . . . What is happening in your mouth?
Well, if you're like a good percentage of the people, your mouth is salivating. OR drying up.
Either way, you are having a reaction to the sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel of the lemon.

You know why? Your brain does not know the difference between what is real and what is
vividly imagined! Now, how can this help you?

If you really take the time and effort to change your view of reality, your brain will put in the time
and effort to make your reality become your view.

And so it is with changing your perceptions. You won’t have to imagine lemons every time you
want to substitute a belief, but this exercise should help you to see just how powerful your
imagination can be.

Perception
Is the world really as you see it? Do you see a lovely young lady or a
shrivelled old woman? The ear of the young lady is the eye of the
old woman. This reversible figure shows how we can be given subtle
cues which influence what we see.

We tend to believe that our perception or experience of the world
is reliable, "Seeing is believing", but we may not be the objective
observers we think we are.
Our perceptions reflect our needs, expectations, attitudes, values
and beliefs. We see what we believe. Research shows that rather
than passively recording details we actively process incoming
stimulation, focusing on some aspects while ignoring others.
And so it is with your beliefs and thoughts.