Filters

Ever wonder why you notice some things but not others? It's primarily because of our filters. Filters are put there by our environment or by our genetic make-up or both. By filtering out most stimuli they allow us to focus. We have 1,500 to 3,000 or ore messages coming at us every day so we really need them.

Sometimes I'll notice something or someone for the first time. I'm not conscious of ever having seen that person or thing before and after I see them everywhere?

Just for fun, say that on Monday on the bus on my way to work I notice a man wearing a coat just like mine. I don't remember ever seeing him before. Then, almost every day thereafter I see him on the bus I take going to work.

At this point why I just noticed him is not clear. Maybe he just bought the coat. Maybe he just moved into my neighborhood. Maybe he just started riding the bus to work. Maybe he'd been there all along and I just didn't notice him because whatever happened to make me notice him hadn't happened yet but now it has and so I do. I won't know until I talk to him. If I talk to him I might gain a friend or a customer or learn something about myself or my world that I didn't know before.

One route I take to continued creativity and learning is to put myself in situations where the unexpected happens. I take a new route to the store. I go to a different part of town than I'm used to. I have coffee at a different place. My perceptual screen adjusts as I add a new facet to my world and I "see" new things or I get new ideas or I understand the world around me a little differently. As a result I grow as a person.

My second novel is out. Go to amazon.com and plug in my name and you'll come up with both mysteries, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders and No Stop on Red. Neither is ready yet for the Kindle but will be.