Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life

by Amy E. Herman

To defuse the situation, Charles decided that instead of defending himself or telling his wife how wrong she was, he would try to simply repeat her concern. “So you leave stuff on the steps for the next person going up to save you from having to always run up and down them,” he said, “and when I walk right by it without picking it up, it aggravates you, yes?” “Yes,” she said. “A lot.” “I really don’t notice it. It might as well be invisible to me,” he said. Then he dug deeper into her concern. “But it’s not to you, is it? It’s the opposite. You not only see it, you see it as an insult or something I’m doing on purpose?” Caroline hesitated because he was right—that was how she saw it. For further clarification, she then repeated his words. “You really don’t see things on the stairs?” she asked. “Like it’s invisible? That’s crazy to me because the pile on the stairs is so obvious to me, it might as well be glowing. It practically shouts at me.” “Really?” Charles answered. “It bothers you that much? It’s like visual pollution to you.” “Yes,” she said, relieved that he understood. In fact, he explained it better than she had. It was like visual pollution to her. And he didn’t see it at all. “I had no idea you didn’t see it,” she continued. “The stairs are your blind spot, then?” Now it was Charles’s turn to be relieved. Piles of socks on the floor really didn’t register in his field of vision, and he was glad his wife understood. Instead of allowing the conversation to degener...