Have you ever wanted to buy a particular car or a particular piece of clothing only to start finding it more often around you?  Why do you think this happens?

One morning, before going to a meeting, I went to a diner to get a cup of coffee. It was busy, and the waitress took a few minutes to come to my table. I was in the middle of a phone call when she came and I whispered, “Regular coffee, please…I am in a hurry.”  She brought it right away. I finished my phone call, saw the coffee and got upset. “How can she forget? I mentioned to her I was in a hurry. This is amazing! I should have gone to Starbucks instead,” I said to myself.

From my seat, I was looking around trying to locate her. When we made eye contact, I waved and she came back. I said: “You forgot the sugar! ” In silence, she looked at me for four long seconds like, if in disbelief, she was trying to gather her thoughts. Without saying a word with her lips, she pointed to the sugar container just eight inches away from the cup of coffee. The sugar was there all along, but I did not see it! I did not know how to react. I did what any sensible, embarrassed person would do under these circumstances; I broke down in laughter. She left the table not necessarily sharing my feelings. Now, if the sugar was there all the time, why didn’t I see it before? If I needed to leave for my meeting soon, why did I fail to notice something so obviously there?

This is the reason. In my mind, I had an image of a rectangular-shaped sugar container that normally has the white, pink, blue and yellow sugar packets. What was next to the coffee was a glass sugar pourer. It was amazing. Even though I would have been perfectly okay using that sugar, my mind deleted it completely because it did not match what I was looking for. Even though I was in need, I could not see what was just a few inches away from me because it did not match my expectations.

Then, why is it that when you decide to buy a car, you start seeing that brand and model very often? Why was it that your mind “deleted” them from your life experience before you started thinking about the possibility of buying it?

I will not get very technical here, but there is a part of our brain that helps us filter the tremendous amount of sensorial information we are continuously exposed to, but we tend to see more of what we focus on.  

Sometimes in our lives… 

We don’t see abundance because we harbor lack.

We don’t see hope because we feel fear.

We don’t see what is because we expect what is not.

We miss opportunities that are just under our noses unless we are lucky enough that someone comes along and points them out to us. Meanwhile, we are drinking cold coffee, not connected with the moment and running like crazy in order to not miss the next appointment.

The sugar, the cars, and opportunities are all around us. We see only what we project. What we project is what we focus on. What we focus on determines what’s available to us.

My question to you is: From now on, what will you start focusing on? Choose wisely and enjoy your coffee.

Edward A. Rodriguez is a coach, co-author and transformational trainer. He is founder and CEO of Better Graphics (a promotional products company) and In-Powerment! Center (an international training company for productivity and personal development). He is an NLP, HNLP, and neuro-strategy certified trainer. He has many certifications as a life and executive coach, serving clients in different countries. Edward has developed internationally known transformational programs and has co-authored books like “La Biblia de la Motivación” (“The Bible About Motivation”) and “Empowered,” which was co-written with other authors such as Wayne W. Dyer, John Assaraf (from the movie The Secret), Brian Tracy, etc. For more information, call 1-888-2-IN-POWER or write to info@EdwardRodriguez.com.