Ever think about or desire something really deeply, then begin to see it around you everywhere?
Maybe, it’s a car you’ve been wanting. Or, an opportunity you’ve been interested in.
It could even be a personality trait in a person.
You think about it, then you continue to see things that remind you of it.
You’re going about your day, traveling down the road, and that Tesla keeps popping up.
You’re talking to your friend, and you keep noticing them do that one thing that really irritates you.
You can’t help but notice it.
It’s like the universe is trying to tell you something.
And, in a way, it is.
It’s telling you about yourself.
See, what happens is when we think about something deeply, we begin to impress it into our subconscious mind. It then becomes accepted as something important/necessary to notice to us.
Now, since the mind thinks it’s something important to us, it will unconsciously “look” for these things in our reality and bring them to our conscious attention.
It’s so powerful in this regard, that it will even have us convinced it’s there, even when it’s not. Like that car that looked like a Tesla, but was really a Kia. Except, it took a second glance to realize that.
The same thing happens in our relationships.
Ever been on incredibly great terms with someone, and you see nothing but good things in them? Then one thing goes horribly wrong and your view shifts? Suddenly you begin to notice all the behaviors you don’t like.
In Psychology, it’s called the Halo/Horn Effect – a form of cognitive bias where we have the tendency to view others (including companies) as all good or all bad, based on a single trait.
The mind likes to receive confirmations – which is another form of cognitive bias we all experience. It’s the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or strengthens our prior beliefs.
Knowing that our mind has these tendencies, even in the face of new evidence/information, it’s critical to reexamine our existing beliefs.
Instead of adopting one-sided views and beliefs about situations and others, maybe we can have a more whole, a more complete view.
After all, we do live in a dynamic, ever-changing, and ever-growing world.
Knowing what we know about the human mind and how it operates, we can leverage our knowledge to bring us closer to desires – closer to fruitful, lasting relationships.
There’s a reason why every self-development or business improvement book points back to the mind.
The only thing holding an individual back is within them – within the structure of their values and beliefs.
Just by adjusting our perspective, we can adjust the entire course of our lives. We can alter our future.
The only thing holding an individual back from growth is their own limiting beliefs.
“A belief system is nothing more than a thought you’ve thought over and over again.” – Wayne Dyer