Do you see what I see?

I am always amazed at how differently we see ourselves than others. I would compare it to listening to your voice on a tape recorder. When you hear your voice played back, it never sounds like you, to you. Others will say it sounds exactly like you. So what’s the real answer? It’s all about perception. Our perception of ourselves is biased by our own insecurities and our need to be perceived a particular way by others. We work frantically to protect our self imagine and anything or anyone that tries to get in the way, is an immediate threat. The funny thing is, no matter how hard we work at it, other people will inevitably form their own opinions. Whenever I have had the good fortune of sitting down and talking to someone about this, an interesting thing occurs. Many of the things I was perceiving to be negative about myself, were not even in the other person’s radar. In addition, many of the things I perceived to be doing well, were not perceived the same by others. This has brought me to the following conclusions:
We can’t control what others will think about us.
Most of the time what we think others are thinking, is wrong.
Our perception will always be different than others, because our vantage point is from within.
Do what you know to be right and the rest will fall into place.