Habits or patterns of thinking and behaving can often limit our view of what we perceive as possible. They can create “blind spots” that hold us back. Though, a small shift in perception is often all it takes to find a solution for a situation we are not happy with.

Inattentional blindness
Arien Mack and Irving Rock, two psychologists, have done research on the relationship between attention and perception and found what they call “Inattentional Blindness”. This is a phenomenon of not being able to perceive something that is within our sight. This can be the result of an object that is truly unexpected or because we are attending to something else.

Before you read on, test this yourself. It is fun, I promise, and only takes a couple of minutes. Just watch this video and follow the instructions.

Mack and Rock have even gone so far as to say that “there is no conscious perception without attention”. So, if you focus your attention on one thing, chances are that this is what you are going to see. It also means that you probably will miss many other things.

Therefore, you should not only ask yourself - What are you looking at? but also - What are you not looking at?
This is important as it might just help you make that small shift in perception. Think of the things that you have discovered about yourself that you previously had overlooked. How amazing was it for you when you started to see things you thought were not possible before. You made a shift in attention and therefore a shift in perception.

We are blinded by our habits and beliefs when they hold us back to discover many other possibilities for us in any situation.

Here are some helpful tips to become more aware and ‘seeing’, so that you can break unhelpful patterns:

1. Notice and seek new things in your daily routines: Walk a different way to work, cook with an ingredient you never used, try new things,…

2. Keep your mind refreshed: Take a break from what you are doing several times a day. The breaks can last one minute or ten minutes. Or longer if you wish.

3. Let your attention be guided by little sights, sounds, smells or physical sensations.

4. Beginners mind: Let go of what you know and your assumptions. Keep an open mind and try to react to situations according to circumstance not according to assumptions or conventions.

You might also want to read:
Do your beliefs support you or hold you back?

Image: Anders Ljungberg

Tags: attention, mindfulness, possibility