This week’s Inspirational quote and interpretation addresses the challenge of where you consciously apply your undivided focus and attention. The topic was triggered by a quote I recently came across by one of my all-time favorite actors:
“It’s easy to spot a red car when you’re always thinking of a red car.
It’s easy to spot reasons to be mad when you’re always thinking about being mad.
It’s easy to spot an opportunity when you’re always thinking of an opportunity.
You become what you think about. Watch yourself.” – Denzel Washington
I’m sure we’ve all experienced the first sentence in the quote above. My family experienced it just last month when we helped our newly-graduated-from-college daughter purchase her first car. After numerous weeks of searching deals at the end of a calendar year, we came across an amazing offer for last year’s model Volkswagen Golf GTI. Prior to purchasing it, we thought it was a rather uncommon car. Now that we have a personal association, it seems like we see multiple GTIs on the road every time we take it out.
Research suggests that our five senses send informational input to our brains for processing at a rate of approximately 11 million bits per second. Unfortunately, the conscious part of our brain (the cerebellum) can only handle a rate of about 50 bits per second. Now I don’t know about you, but in trying to recall my public-school education, I couldn’t begin to translate how a brain would process information in “bits per second,” but I can recognize that anything that reduces 11 million down to 50 represents quite a dramatic filtering process.
Denzel Washington’s quote highlights two psychological effects. The first is called the “Ironic Process (or rebound) Theory” and the second, the “Process Model of Emotional Regulation.” Without geeking out on you too much with the research behind these phenomena, the former theory argues that the more you attempt to suppress certain thoughts – the more likely they are to remain at the surface level of consciousness, while the latter suggests that we use distraction, concentration, or rumination as our prime strategies for regulating the emotions associated with our experiences. These theories rose to prominence in the 80’s (my favorite decade!) that were in part, based on some famous studies that instructed participants to “not” think of a white bear or pink elephant. That simple cue was like a vicious, persistent weed planted into the participants’ consciousness. No matter how hard they attempted to follow the directions, these intrusive thoughts became the only things they could think about. It should also not come as a surprise that the participants that were placed in higher stress-related conditions, had even higher rates of not being able to follow the directions. They were overwhelmed with thoughts of white bears or pink elephants.
While an incredibly complex and amazing tool, our brain has limited processing power. You might be able to recall some seminal memory work from the 1950’s by George Miller on “The Magical Number Seven (plus or minus two),” where his research suggested that our brains have some natural constraints on how much capacity exists for transferring sensory input from our short- to long-term memory. Anything above these five-to-nine pieces of information may create cognitive load for the immediate sense-making of our environment. The point is that with this limited processing power, we need to be fairly strategic on what we focus on (especially when we find ourselves in stressful conditions). Now imagine that these superfluous red cars, white bears, or pink elephants represent the negative events in our lives. Like holding a ball under water, suppression may work for a short period, but eventually that ball is going to find its way back to the surface (and sometimes in place you were unable to predict or control). Research and experience suggest that ruminating on (or even attempting to distract ourselves from) the negative issues in our lives can occupy a lot of the limited cognitive processing capacity of our consciousness. Again, no matter how hard we try not to think of them, these pernicious thoughts keep coming back into the forefront of our mind. Thankfully (and yes, I know, easier said than done), developing a concentrated approach to address some of these major concerns is not only a more proactive use of your time, but it will also free up space to focus on more positive aspects of your life.
Helen Keller once lamented that many people contribute to their sadness because they regretfully and longingly keep looking at the doors of opportunity that have already closed in their lives. I believe both Denzel Washington and Helen Keller would argue that looking back and ruminating on the past prevents you from keeping your eyes oriented on the present and future, which is exactly the direction needed to spot the many open-door opportunities that exist around us. Where are you focusing your undivided attention today?
Kommentare