Our memories fail us all the time. Layer in that we miss things all the time also. We have deep attention biases that filter in and out information constantly. Have you heard of the Invisible Gorilla experiment? It was done as part of a Harvard University experiment to provide that when our attention is focused in one area, we will miss something else. In this experiment, people in white shirts and black shirts were throwing a ball to each other, and the audience had to count how many passes happened. Half way through the experiment someone in a gorilla suit walked into the middle of the game and then walked off again.
50% of the audience did not see the guy in the gorilla suit. At all. On completion of the experiment they were asked what they saw, and then if they saw a gorilla at all. Half said they did not see the gorilla!! Their attention was focused on the ball throwing, and their mind’s bias ensured that was all they saw.
So let’s start navigating our days with this in our awareness; that we might not be ‘right’ or perhaps that’s not actually as ‘true’ as we believe. We all navigate life with a set of biases and prejudices that colour our view of the world. We are an inside out projecting machine, what we believe, we see.
Same goes for everyone else. Which is comforting really as we can therefore all lighten up a bit, as everyone is just their own little projecting machine.
Written with love,
Jac x