Invisible Gorilla Test

There is a test called the invisible gorilla. It seeks to show that we have perceptual blindness, to mean our senses do not always pick all that is around us. Even when we are staring right at it.

Have you tried the test? If you have, it hits you like a sack of sand on how little you notice but think you do. If you have not come across it yet, I will share the link. It’s a fun way of bringing a group together, to the present.

The test is a one and a half minutes video that was devised in 1999 by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris.

They place before you two teams of three people in each team, one wearing black and the other wearing white. They have two balls, one for each team and they pass it around. The test is to count the number of passes the white team has.

There is nothing easier, I thought. So I focused on nothing but how the white team kept moving around and passing the ball to each other. I kept count and even counted an extra pass. Before I could be dissapointed, a question is plastered on the screen; did you notice the man in the gorilla suit?

They rewind the video and right there in the middle of the whole fiasco of passing the balls is a man in a gorilla suit, who even thumps his chest a couple of times.

If they had not rewinded it, I would have said no, but there it was as bright as day. Watch it on this link on You Tube and let me know what you think.

Perspective and Focus

There are two ways of looking at it. One is to always look again, our decisions, our actions, our thoughts and memories. Just because you saw it as one way does not mean it can’t be in any other way. It reminds me of the meme of two people in opposite sides looking at a number, one seeing 6 and the other 9. Both of them are correct from where they stand because their focus is from that angle.

Two was that we need to go into things with laser sharp focus that other things we are not aiming for lose meaning. When I was looking at that video, I did not care what the black team was doing or not doing not to lose count of the white team passes. This has also been true in other areas of my life.

The things I have worked on with laser sharp focus have rewarded me in so many amazing ways beyond what I initially thought they would. Those that I gave shared focus ended up not giving so much back and I never get to learn all they have to give.

This test teaches you to question your beliefs, what you see and also reminds you on the importance of removing distractions when you are on your chosen path.

What is your chosen path and are you maintaining the focus?

Are you also ensuring that you consider the realities of others and their point of views?

Great, let’s keep the focus for prosperity and agreeing to disagree because all our perspectives have a place.