Before I can respond,

I have to perceive.

Before I perceive,

I have to name.

That’s how it works.

That’s how I work.

Perception isn’t passive.

It’s active.

It’s constructed.

It starts with a frame.

With a name.

If I don’t name it,

I’m dominated by it.

I’m reacting to a loop.

Most of the time I skip this step.

I move fast.

I act sharp.

I perform like I know.

I haven’t named it.

That’s not clarity.

That’s rehearsal.

That’s my nervous system finishing a story

before it has the facts.

That’s why I train naming.

That’s the work.

This is the story.

This is the feeling.

This is the actions I see.

This is the pattern I’m in.

Then

maybe

I get to decide what to do with it.

Or not.

Naming is perceiving.

It’s not a matter of choice.

It’s a matter of awareness.

That’s what perception is made of.

Or at least what I named it.