Our Interpreted World

We often move through the world as if what we are seeing, feeling, and experiencing is simply “how it is.”

As if reality is fixed, objective, and the same for everyone.

But what if it isn’t?

What if what we experience is not the world as it is, but the world as it appears to us?

The way we make sense of things

Every moment we are taking in information from our environment, our body, and our interactions with others.

But we don’t experience these moments in a neutral way.

Our past experiences, our relationships, our beliefs, and even our nervous system shape how we perceive what is happening. Two people can share the same moment and walk away with completely different experiences of it.

Not because one is right and the other is wrong, but because each person is making meaning in their own way.

This idea is often referred to as our interpreted world (Spinelli, 1989), the understanding that we are always making sense of what we experience, often without even realising it.

Why awareness matters in my approach

In my work at Brumby Equine Assisted Therapy, we don’t begin by trying to analyse or explain what something means.

We begin by slowing things down.

By noticing.

By becoming aware of what is happening in the present moment.

What is happening in the body

What sensations are present

What emotions are arising

What is happening in the environment, and in the space between

Because before we can understand something, we need to experience it.

Awareness becomes the foundation. It brings what is often automatic or unnoticed into view.

The meaning we make

Once something is noticed, something else begins to emerge.

We start to make sense of it.

We might recognise patterns, connections, or familiar responses. We might notice how a reaction we are having now echoes something from our past, or how our body responds in certain situations.

Meaning begins to form.

In my approach, this meaning is not imposed or decided for someone. It is explored together, through curiosity, reflection, and staying with what unfolds in the moment.

As Staemmler (2004) highlights, meaning is not something that sits within one person. It is something that is shaped in relationship, through dialogue, and through shared exploration.

Staying open

There can be a strong pull to want certainty.

To know what something means

To explain it quickly

To make sense of it and move on

But often, the most meaningful shifts happen when we resist that pull.

When we stay a little longer with the experience.

When we allow things to unfold rather than trying to define them too quickly.

Bringing this into everyday life

This is not just something that happens in a therapeutic space.

It shows up in everyday moments.

A look from someone that feels like rejection

A pause in conversation that feels uncomfortable

A reaction in the body that feels confusing

In these moments, we are not just experiencing what is happening.

We are experiencing what it means to us.

A gentle invitation

So perhaps the invitation is not to get it right.

Not to find the “correct” interpretation.

But to stay open and curious.

To notice a little more.

To slow down just enough to ask:

What am I experiencing right now

And what meaning might I be making of it

A final note

At the heart of this approach is a simple but powerful idea.

Awareness first.

Then, meaning that emerges through experience and connection.

Not something imposed, but something discovered.

Together.

Parihan Wyatt

Registered Counsellor

Equine Assisted Mental Health Practitioner

References

Spinelli, E. (1989). The Interpreted World. Staemmler, F. (2004). Dialogue and Interpretation in Gestalt Therapy: Husserl, E. Phenomenology and lived experience