UNIT 1. I AM A SCOTOMA BUSTER! If I don t see it, is it really there? You have enormous potential lying asleep inside you! Lou Tice.

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1 UNIT 1 I AM A SCOTOMA BUSTER! At A Glance Growth. Moving on. Leaving today behind and looking forward to tomorrow. These are aspects of a purposeful life. One of the things that can get in our way are the blind spots, or scotomas, we develop that don t let us perceive all the information around us. We only see what we declare as significant or important to us right now. Listening to and buying into what others say can cause us to block out clues, ideas, and information that could help us on our way. We want to be open to the information we need, and it s time to become a Scotoma Buster! Objectives By the time I am finished with this review, I will: have refreshed my knowledge of blind spots and scotomas. identify more scotomas in my current situation. remind myself that I have more potential waiting to be fulfilled. You have enormous potential lying asleep inside you! Lou Tice Alumni Review 1

2 Unit Concepts Potential: having the strong possibility for development into a state of actuality; possible or in the making; latent talent or ability Scotoma: an expression to indicate that one fails to see or is blind to alternatives and therefore can see only limited possibilities; a sensory locking out of information from our environment. Greek for blindness or blind spot I am careful about who I listen to, and evaluate carefully everything I hear or see or read. FUTURE PERFECT THINKING : Alumni Review 2 The Pacific Institute, Inc.

3 Reflective Questions 1. Looking back, what major scotomas have I already uncovered, and how did recognizing them allow me to move ahead with my life? 2. In what areas of my life or work do I feel like I m missing something or not seeing everything I feel I should? 3. Knowing about scotomas as I do, how would I explain them to friends, colleagues or family members? 4. Among my family, friends and associates, who would benefit from understanding about blind spots? How can I help them? FUTURE PERFECT THINKING : Alumni Review 3 The Pacific Institute, Inc.

4 In Brief There is enormous potential lying asleep inside each of us. No matter our age, we have uncovered some of that potential along the way, through school, work and our basic life experiences. However, there is so much more to discover! For some of us, we have let others determine how much of our potential sees the light of day. We listen to what they say or believe everything we read, and forget to question whether what we hear or see or read is the truth or just someone else s opinion. Most of what we hear from others is opinion. It may be based on the truth, but we need to remember that truth is nearly always someone s personal version of the truth. When we accept this, we build scotomas to any other possibility. Others can get us to focus on pieces of the truth, as Lou did with the FLY exercise. We listened to what he had to say, and then we went looking for the house with the chimney and the arrow totally missing the word FLY. When we change our focus and listen for our own truth, we open up to new possibilities and opportunities, and eliminate old scotomas. Now that we have learned about scotomas, we can become like magicians pulling answers and solutions out of the hat instead of rabbits! As we declare what is important to us now, we open our awareness and eliminate erroneous scotomas. We become attractive to others because they know we see more than meets the eye. Our lives get bigger and our dreams get bigger. It is not aptitude or intelligence, but a willingness to let our minds open up to see the possibilities in the world and the understanding of the lives we are capable of living. FUTURE PERFECT THINKING : Alumni Review 4 The Pacific Institute, Inc.

5 Lou s StorY Can We Please Throw the Ball to Marty? I was coaching at a Catholic high school years ago, and I had had these football players for four years. I knew them well. I knew that I had a quarterback who couldn t throw, but that was alright, because I had ends who couldn t catch. We had two running plays, and we switched them up to fool the other teams. Our games were so boring their mothers would fall asleep in the stands. One game, my quarterback came to me and asked, Coach, could we please throw the ball to Marty? (Marty was the end who I knew couldn t catch.) I got mad. You know we don t throw! Tell those guys to block harder! But, Coach, Marty s been open the whole game. In fact, he s been open the whole year! I saw insubordination. The next play, I look downfield, and there is Marty, making faces at me from the end zone. There is no one around him. So, one more play, and the kid who couldn t throw threw a wobbly pass to the end who couldn t catch and I became a good coach. I had been so opinionated and stubborn; I knew everything about those kids. FUTURE PERFECT THINKING : Alumni Review 5 The Pacific Institute, Inc.

6 NOTES FUTURE PERFECT THINKING : Alumni Review 6 The Pacific Institute, Inc.