A lie worth telling.

Last week I posted a picture on Facebook of two different colored circles. The circles were side by side and while the one on the left was blue and the one on the right was red, the circles were seemingly the same in every way. I then told the world of Facebook that the circles were not only different in color, but also in size, and it was up to each of them to decide which was bigger. At the time of writing this, I was up to 30 comments on the initial post and the results were near 50/50. If you would like to see for yourself, here are the two circles from the post. Give it a shot, which is bigger.

Why did you pick the color circle that you did? It could be a left eye vs right eye imbalance that you possess, and everyone with a dominant right eye would naturally pick the circle on the left for that reason. It could be that you subconsciously favor one color over the other and this exercise is bringing your subconscious to the surface. It is also possible, as one person on Facebook suggested, that it has to do with your political party affiliation. While all of these explanations may have scientific backing somewhere, none of these, or any other reason can point to why you would have chosen one over the other than one simple reason… because I told you they were different.

Yep, that is right. These circles are 100% the same size. The only reason that you thought these circles were different is because I told you that they were. While a handful of people second guessed the idea of them being different, it only took a reply back insisting that they were indeed different to get them to pick a circle. This exercise is an interesting one when we take it beyond the realm of circles on a screen. If we hear something enough, no matter if someone told us or we tell ourselves, we tend to start believing it. This exercise was not intended to show you how easily you can be deceived by someone, but instead to get you thinking about the messages you hear every day.

Just like me telling you that one of the circles was bigger than the other, if you are constantly hearing negative things being said you will begin to embody those vibes and your mood will turn negative. That is a waste of time, Todd has never been good at his job, does anyone know what is going on around here, direct sales is nothing but a pyramid scheme, we all hear negative talk just like this. IF you hear it enough, you start believing it even if you did not think that way before. Even worse, you start telling yourself and others the exact same negative comments that you once thought were not true.

I told you the circles were different in size. Then, through the power of Facebook, people saw others choosing Blue or Red and it reaffirmed that one of the circles must have been bigger. Against their better judgment, nearly everyone picked one circle over the other. No matter how hard you fight it, you will tend to embody those feelings and emotions and thoughts that you hear the most. So make sure you are dictating what you surround yourself with.

Find a community of friends, neighbors, social media groups that help uplift and empower you to be the best version of yourself. Find the positive qualities in Todd, be the one to find out what is going on instead of adding to the frustration, see direct sales opportunities as the chance to help change someone’s life. We cannot help believing what we are told, but we can be sure that the messages we hear are ones that help serve us.