My parent's dog died.

I thought it was my mom at first. Someone ran into my office and yelled, "your mom!"

My heart sank.

My mind went to the darkest place.

WHAT?

"Mack is dying." That's my parent's dogs name.

Three-minutes later, my mom called me and said, Mack passed away.

He went to the backyard. That was it. It was his time. He knew it.

My mom hired a service that's a hospice for pups.

The Doctor who came out taught me a life lesson I'll never forget.

She told me a lot of people make comments about how hard her job must be, but "it's not hard at all, I help end suffering."

And that's the life lesson.

Life is about perceptions. You can perceive things as good, bad, evil and dark, but we all see things differently.

To some, her job is dark and sad. To her, it was doing good for animals. To end suffering.

Two different perceptions.

People hear death and perceive it as bad.

But is it?

This can be played out in every aspect of your life.

You perceive you're failing because something at work happened. Or, you view it as a lesson to make you better.

You perceive a hard break up as the end of the world, or you view it as leading you to a better future match.

How you perceive things will determine the emotions you create.

If you perceive most situations as sad, you'll be sad. If you perceive situations as opportunities, you'll be grateful.

Look around you and watch people’s perceptions. See how they impact what they do.

A perception I've had lately is hiring sucks. No one is accountable for themselves.

My perception is wrong.

I've allowed circumstances to cloud my perceptions.

Instead, I'll perceive people as being human. Each one of us has different default emotions and habits.

Some good, some bad, but not to put everyone in a stereotypical perception.

That includes me.

Make a note of how you perceive things and begin changing them.

This is the first step to correcting any uncanny emotion and habitual perception. You first need to notice it. Take stock of it. Watch it spew vomit all over the perception floor.

This takes Emotional Intelligence. The more you work at it, the easier it will get.

Watch your thoughts.

Change your negative perceptions.

Update them with positive emotions.

Change your perceptions, and you'll begin to change your life.