In 1804, the Swiss physician and philosopher Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler discovered an optical illusion that describes what happens if you fix your gaze upon a single point in the visual field.

The now-famous Troxler’s Fading or Troxler’s Effect causes images and colors to disappear from your peripheral vision and you don’t need more than 10 seconds for it to happen.

(The image on the top of this article allows you to experience it first-hand)

What does this entertaining trick of perception teach us about personal development?

The learning is that the same phenomena may happen to our values and beliefs…

If we only look at the things we know and hold as being true, we tend not to see (and thus not to consider) different visions and possibilities sometimes available in the world around us.

As in the visual exercise, a minimum deviation from the fixed point is enough to allow us to explore our surroundings often leading to interesting findings and new perspectives

We must always be attentive and vigilant to avoid this “fixedness trap”, which more often than not, limits us and hinder our growth.

Do you only see what you want to see or do you see all that is there to be seen?