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Focused Vision



The human eyeball, although amazingly complex and effective, is not without its shortcomings. Because it lacks photoreceptor cells in certain areas of the eye, we are left with “blind spots” in our vision in which no visual data is picked up. The brain then receives a half-painted picture of reality and, not wanting to relay this unfinished scene to the visual center of the brain, essentially “colors in” the remaining details. This allows us to perceive a full, uninterrupted sight picture without noticing that a portion of what we view has been filled in, not by what we are actually seeing, but by what the brain perceives to be there.

In fact, our vision outside of a fairly narrow cone of acuity; is not actually all that perceptive. Our brain focuses mostly on just the areas within our field of vision that are captured by the densest concentration of photoreceptors in the eye. Everything else is subject to the artistic license of our brain. So only what you focus on is seen accurately. Maybe this is obvious to you, but the other side of this is that what you aren’t specifically looking at may be inaccurate as much can be missed in your peripheral vision.

Our “mind’s eye” seems to work in much the same way. Our perception gravitates towards whatever holds our focus. Again, this may be very obvious to you. However, it’s important to realize that corollary of this is that whatever we aren’t directing our attention towards may be significantly altered in our perception or even missed entirely.

So again – and I risk restating the blatantly obvious – what you focus on is what you see. But this is important to remember for people who tend to dwell on the negative things in their lives. There will always be problems and difficulties in your life, but if that’s where your attention is directed, that may be all you see. It’s like looking at a beautiful blue sky and only noticing the lone raincloud. You may think you are a realist because you are considering all the things that have or might go wrong, but in reality, this prevents you from seeing all the good and blessing in your life. It’s not an accurate picture at all. Be careful what you focus on, as that may be all you see.

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