Everything you know is sort of true

The truth is out there. Or at least that's what Scully told us.

But you’re not actually seeing the truth. You're not seeing the world as it really is - you’re seeing it as you are.

Every moment, your mind is filtering, framing, and quietly rewriting reality. It’s subtle. Automatic. And almost impossible to notice, until you do.

But once you start seeing the lens, instead of just the image, everything changes.

Your questions get sharper. Your problems feel lighter.

And suddenly, your need to be right all the time fades, replaced by something far more useful.

You’re Creating Reality

Two people can hear the same words and walk away with completely different stories.

One feels attacked. The other feels inspired.

We tend to explain this away as “miscommunication” or “personality differences,” but there’s something deeper at play.

We’re not passive observers of the world. We’re active interpreters.

Every reaction, judgement, and emotional response is filtered through a lens made up of our past experiences, our beliefs, our mood.

So what we call “truth” is often just the most convincing version of a story we’ve told ourselves.

That’s not cynical, it’s human.

But it also means we live in a world built on perspectives, not absolutes.

When the World Changes Because You Do

I once visited a village in the North of England I hadn’t been to in years.

I used to live there. I could’ve walked to the local pub blindfolded.

But this time, it felt… different. Not physically different, but emotionally. Things looked smaller. Calmer. Less urgent than I remembered.

Nothing monumental had changed. The streets were the same. The shopfronts were mostly intact.

But I had changed.

My lens, the one I didn’t know I’d been wearing, had shifted. And with that, everything looked different.

We tend to think growth happens in big, dramatic moments. But often, it’s these quiet shifts in perspective that tell you who you’ve become.

You’re not just moving through life. You’re moving through versions of yourself. And each version sees the world slightly differently.

Perspective Can Shift History

This isn’t just abstract philosophy. Perspective has quietly shaped the course of events more times than we realise.

In the late 1930s, in the UK, while most of Parliament clung to appeasement as a strategy to 'manage' Hitler, Winston Churchill stood apart.

At the time, he was out of favour. He was seen as combative, even paranoid. But Churchill’s perspective had been sharpened by years of studying German politics and military history. He saw danger where others saw diplomacy.

He wasn’t popular for it.

In fact, he was politically sidelined. But he stayed with what he saw, even when it made him unpopular. And when the moment came, when denial was no longer an option, it was Churchill’s hard won, uncomfortable perspective that we turned to.

That wasn’t luck.

It was clarity born from the discomfort of not seeing what everyone else saw. The courage to sit with an unpopular view until the world caught up.

The point isn’t to idolise Churchill. The point is that sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is not rush into agreeing with the majority view.

Trust that seeing things differently, even painfully, can be the first step towards insight.

The Freedom in Not Needing to Be Right

So much of our day-to-day tension comes from trying to get it “right.” But the goal isn’t to be right, it’s to be aware.

Aware that what we’re seeing is just one version. One frame. One story amongst many. That kind of awareness doesn’t weaken your thinking, it deepens it.

You become slower to judge. Quicker to ask questions. Less reactive. More reflective. Not because you’re unsure of yourself, but because you know that certainty can be a trap.

When we lock into a single viewpoint, we stop noticing.

But when we stay open to the idea that our perspective might be flawed, that’s when real clarity has room to show up.

Lightness Isn’t Emptiness

Letting go of rigid certainty doesn’t mean detaching from the world. In fact, it brings you closer to it.

You begin to see people more clearly, not as villains or heroes, but as shifting, complicated humans, just like you.

You start to let go of the pressure to control everything, and focus instead on what’s in front of you, what’s real in this moment, from your point of view, with all its nuance.

And in that space, things get lighter.

Not because life is easy. But because you’ve stopped gripping so tightly to a version of it that was never fixed in the first place.

Storytelling

This isn’t a call to float through life, endlessly questioning everything. It’s a reminder that your current way of seeing things is just one way. And if it’s not working, or if it’s causing friction, you can change it.

So start by noticing. Next time you feel stuck, angry, misunderstood, or certain… pause. Ask yourself, "What story am I telling myself right now?"

You don’t need to change your mind. Just widen it. Because when you do, the world doesn’t just look different, it is different.

And that’s where real freedom lives.

Until next time,

Jon "Truthiness" Kaye

Finding meaning in Monday mornings

P.S.

I mentioned Do Radio last week, well now we have our manifesto out. Our reason why. Have a read (it's only a 2 mins read) and see if it resonates with you.