Ever torn the house apart looking for your car keys, absolutely certain they’re not there, and then found them sitting in plain sight on the bench?
I’ve done it more times than I’d like to admit. And here’s what I’ve learned from it: the moment I decide the keys aren’t there, my brain stops looking. The belief comes first, and then it filters out the evidence.
That same little glitch is quietly running in the bigger areas of your life, and it matters far more there than it does with keys.
The story of the invisible ships
There’s an old story about Christopher Columbus arriving in the Caribbean in 1492. The islanders had only ever seen small canoes. So when the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria anchored just offshore, the story goes, they couldn’t see them. Big ships weren’t part of their world, so their minds had no place to put them. I should be upfront: historians haven’t found any proof this actually happened. It’s a legend that’s been passed around for a long time. But I love it as a picture of how we operate, because it rings true. We all see through filters built from what we’ve been taught, what we’ve been exposed to, and what we’ve decided is possible.
What the shaman noticed. In the story, one person did spot the ships: the island’s shaman. He wasn’t smarter than anyone else. He’d just been taught three simple habits for seeing past his own filters. They work just as well for us.
Key 1: Notice the odd pattern
The shaman couldn’t see the ships, but he noticed something strange in the waves. The water was moving in ways that didn’t make sense. In your life, this looks like a nagging feeling, a repeating frustration, or a quiet “there has to be more than this.” Most of us brush those moments off. Don’t. An odd pattern is often the first sign there’s something you haven’t seen yet.
Key 2: Don’t take your first thought as the truth
When the shaman got curious about the waves, he didn’t trust his mind to have the answer. He knew his mind could only work with what it had already seen. I’m not saying your thoughts are the enemy. But your mind builds its picture from your past, your upbringing, your culture and your old stories. When it tells you “that’s not for people like me” or “it’s too late for that,” it’s not reporting facts. It’s reporting what it’s used to.
Key 3: Open the door to new possibilities
Once the shaman let go of how he thought the world worked, he saw the ships. Then he pointed them out, and everyone else could suddenly see them too. That’s the shift. You don’t have to have the answer. You just have to be willing to say, “Maybe I’m missing something here.” So what’s your “ship”?
Think about the dream you’ve quietly decided isn’t available to you. The career that would light you up. The health you want back. The relationship you want to feel closer, warmer, more alive. The freedom to design your life instead of just getting through it.
When did you decide it wasn’t possible? And was that a fact, or just a belief you’ve been carrying for so long it started to feel like one?
Be your own shaman
You don’t need someone to point out the opportunities in your life. You can learn to spot them yourself:
- Look for the odd pattern. That restlessness or repeated frustration is information. Get curious about it.
- Question your first answer. Ask, “Is this true, or is it just familiar?”
- Open up to something new. Leave a little room for the unexpected and see what shows up.
[Picture – Unsplash]
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