You see what you look for

Today I looked at the weather app on my phone, to see how long this rain was expected to last. A while later, I realized that I had looked at the app, but had no idea what the temperature was, because that wasn't what I was looking for in that moment. And it occurred to me, wow, that's how people are generally. We see what we look for, and what we believe. All else will be invisible to us.

This is how the human mind works, in fact. If we took in all sensory information available, we would be overwhelmed immediately. So our minds primarily delete anything outside where we habitually, or consciously focus, what it considers potentially important. 

Our brains scan our environment based on our thoughts, feelings, experiences, and beliefs--our filters. Much of this is unconscious and habitual. We can also consciously ask a question, then our minds (and nowadays, fingers and Google) will search for answers to that question.

The questions themselves direct the answers we get. For instance, if our focus is negative, we'll get more negative back. The same happens if our focus is positive.  So, we can use this system to our advantage, by paying attention to what questions we ask, and also HOW we frame them. In that way we can open up a world of possibilities, by making more of the invisible, visible.