The "Reality Test"

What is reality? How do we know? Change appears possible in relation to what is already existing. If we are sure what is existing than we ought to be able to determine what needs changing and act on it where and when we deem that possible. Sometimes, we have to test reality in order to be sure we are acting on something that is possible. This exercise, while not always needed nor effective, can give us practice that might be useful. Here's to that view, if such really exists.

Reality is broader for some of us than it is for others. Reality can be seen to exist relative to the personal readiness of each of us to decipher the conditions affecting us. That readiness is improved or decreased by the sum total of the conditions, past and present, that produces how we see things. The final result is a dynamic illusion of the conditions that affect the conditions, that affect the conditions, ad infinitum, that produce the conditions that we judge as reality. With no metaphysical intent, we must somehow be cognizant of this phenomena. We cannot stand apart from our own reality, but certainly, we can use our own deciphering skills (if our reality allows that we have any) to set certain portions of our experiences somewhat apart from other portions. The extent to which we can distance these parts establishes the breadth and width of our reality (reduced to its simplest dimensions).
Some of us are expert at setting various facets of our experiences aside while attending to the immediate. Others of us have difficulty separating fact from fancy. Some of us can't see the "forests for the trees", as the adage goes. Each person has his/her own style for taking reality apart, or perhaps for deciding, probably very wisely, not to trifle with the integration of the parts. Understanding, or at least coming to terms with one's own reality, is the means for determining how one wishes to operate within and deal with the factors composing one's world. Day by day effort at seeing more and more of the organization of this reality seems the best means for adding breadth to one's reality base. Through these understandings, we gain the necessary where-with-all to deal more effectively with the distressing situations that impinge upon our reality consciousness.
Those of us that choose only to react to our reality miss many opportunities to re-interpret part of our reality for more productive and meaningful outcomes. By selectively responding to elements that one has "distanced" appropriately from other less related parts, often one can gain additional insight. That is probably the heart of the term, "learning from your mistakes". If you do not see how errors fit within your reality, what can be learned? Try looking over some recent activity judged as a mistake. Tell yourself what you learned from it. Now try to see the relative value of the elements of your reality in order to learn more from it.
By backing off from a difficult stance, one can take in a different part of the reality picture. It might be found that what is happening is not what it was first thought to be. Consequently, we achieve a "reality test" through simply not accepting the first picture we get of it. Reality seems to get broader the more we do this. Reality appears shaped by the many forces that daily affect out views, understandings, awarenesses, both learned and unlearned, and the readiness we achieve for interpreting reality as we know it (if we know it). Or maybe, that's just this writer's reality. One's "reality test' is exclusively his/her own.