What you get in life depends on your filter. Let me explain. By definition, a filter is designed to screen out unwanted particles or elements. A one-size-fits-all filter is not an effective tool for removing impurities from any given substance. Filters work best when they are used for their singular purpose. The size of the filter sieve or mesh is dependent on the size of the substance needing to be trapped or removed.

Usually, when we consider requirements for a proper filter, we are reflecting on objects which exist in the natural or physical realm. Consider how the window tint of your car’s windows, blocks or restricts certain ultra violet rays from penetrating the glass material. This is an example of a physical filter.

But filtration systems can also be employed in the vapors of the spiritual or emotional realms. We may employ an emotional filter system to protect or enhance our heart or psyche.  Depending on the size of our emotional need, we can create filters to entirely block us off from any strong feeling or emotion. The sieve size is of our own making. Whether to accommodate a trickle or a torrent, whether to filter for love or contempt. It’s up to us.

If you’re not sure about this filter analogy, perhaps it would help to think about it from another angle. Consider this, we all see the world and experience it from a unique perspective. The type of filter(s) we use will often determine the quality of emotion and well-being we attribute to our living.

If we use a filter designed to capture love wherever we experience a day’s worth of living, it’s likely we will be able to acknowledge an accumulation of lovely experiences during our waking hours.

If however, we employ a filter designed to trap and remove every offensive act, word, or deed which comes into awareness, then we will likely be overwhelmed by the innumerable  displeasures encountered during our waking day.

As your days unfold, think about your minutes and hours as water pouring through a giant, invisible sieve. What do you want to capture in your life? What do you want to block? The quality of your filtration system will determine the quality of the minutes and hours you collect during your life’s journey. So be careful then, how you filter!

Definition (Dictionary.com): filter
noun
1. any substance, as cloth, paper, porous porcelain, or a layer of charcoal or sand, through which liquid or gas is passed to remove suspended impurities or to recover solids.
2. any of various analogous devices, as for removing dust from air or impurities from tobacco smoke, or for eliminating certain kinds of light rays.
3. Photography. a lens screen of dyed gelatin or glass for controlling the rendering of color or for diminishing the intensity of light.
verb (used with object)
1. to remove by the action of a filter.
2. to act as a filter for; to slow or partially obstruct the passage of.
3. to pass through or as through a filter.
verb (used without object)
1. to pass or slip through slowly, as through an obstruction or a filter.