As Light Shapes Sight, Mindset Shapes Meaning
We’ve all seen how lighting shapes a scene.
In horror films, darkness is everything—shadows in corners, single light sources, half-lit faces. It tricks your senses into uncertainty. It tells your body to fear. Even in real life, some places feel dangerous at night but totally safe by day.
That’s how powerful light is in shaping our perception.
But what if I told you… that same kind of shaping happens in the mind?
Step 1: Input
When we view something—whether it’s a scene, a space, or a person—our brain records what it sees. That’s Step 1: sensation.
We take in temperature, color, contrast, body language, tone, facial expression—all of it. This data enters through our five senses and gets stacked up inside us.
Step 2: Interpretation
This is where things get personal.
In Step 2, we start to assign meaning to what we saw.
And this is where subjectivity explodes. This meaning isn’t coming from what is—it’s coming from what we’ve learned, felt, absorbed, and believe.
Culture, childhood, religion, trauma, TikTok, family dinners, heartbreak—they all shape how we label what we see.
The Photo
Let me show you what I mean.
There’s a photo I took of a friend—Amaan. It’s moody. Dimly lit. His face is serious, half in shadow. If I showed it to you without context, you’d probably think:
“Villain arc.”
“This guy has a dark past.”
“He looks like a loner, maybe dangerous.”
And guess what?
You wouldn’t be wrong to think that.
In fact, when we took the photo, that was exactly the vibe we were aiming for.
Amaan had just said, “Bro I’ve never had a serious photo of me.” He’s usually laughing like a literal hyena (not even exaggerating). So the goal was: let’s make him look as horrific as possible—for fun.
We used one tiny light. A beat-up camera. We were broke students just clowning around. My friend Vespil was in the back, taunting Amaan while I framed the shot.
But when we reviewed the photo… we nailed it.
Amaan looked cinematic. Serious. Maybe even dangerous.
Except… we were laughing the whole time.
And that’s the punchline: you interpreted the light. But you didn’t see the joy that created it.
The Deeper Reality
We do this with people all the time.
I know I’ve been misread more times than I can count.
People meet the goofy version of me and assume I’m impulsive or unserious. Until the deeper side shows up—and then it’s like, “Wait... you’re thoughtful?”
On the flip side, if someone sees me alone, deep in thought, they think I’m distant or cold. Then they see my jokes online and their brain short-circuits.
Why?
Because they were interpreting one frame of light. Not the full story.
This Isn’t Just About Photos
It's about life.
The weather outside can be the same for two people, but one sees it as a blessing and the other sees it as weight.
It’s not the sun that changed. It’s their internal lens.
And while you can’t control the input—the season you’re in, the shadows around you, the temperature of the world—you can reshape the meaning you assign to it.
That’s mindset.
What If You’re Stuck?
Now I get it—sometimes the input is just too much. The pain is real.
If you're in that space, the answer isn’t to fake-positivity your way out.
Let yourself feel what you're feeling. Let yourself sit in the dark.
Denial isn’t healing. Sometimes your initial interpretation is the right one—for now.
But eventually, when you're ready, you can start to shift how you see it.
You can choose to move from:
“This is breaking me.”
to
“This is shaping me.”
That switch can’t be forced. But it can be practiced.
A Question for You
What are you choosing to believe about your current season?
Sit with it. Name it.
Then ask yourself:
Is this the only way to see it?
Or just the way I’ve been taught to?