Day 2: Seeing is Believing

Today I watched the Sixth Sense. Not exactly the kind of movie that pops into your head when you think of an inspirational film, but there was a line that stuck out to me. "People see what they want to see." People fool themselves into seeing things because they want those things to be real, but in reality they aren't always true. Probably one of the reasons palm readers didn't go extinct decades ago!

It could be a small thing, like believing you have a specific combination of numbers that are deemed "lucky". Or it could be a pretty big thing like someone in an abusive relationship that doesn't realize it's abuse because they only see what they want to see, or the friend or relative of an addict that ignores all signs that their family member or friend is relapsing. Personally I can think of several times when I was sucked into this trap. Some were only small things but there are certainly big things I blinded myself to as well, and even things I wasn't blind to but ignored the things I saw that were contrary to what I wanted to be true. 

In the end it doesn't matter how eloquent or experienced you are, if someone doesn't want to believe you they won't. Knowing this sucks, but it's also a kind of relief. If you understand that people only see what they want to see, then you don't have to jump through hoops or stress when someone doesn't believe you. Just make sure you hold on to the people who do believe you and focus the energy you would have spent worrying into nurturing those relationships.