This self help article is written by CJ Carl

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Last week, I was taking the family out for dinner and on the way to the restaurant, the kids started playing a game like the old "slug bug" game. The difference between "slug bug" and the version they were playing was that they were looking for any vehicles that were yellow instead of for VW's. As the game progressed, I found myself looking for yellow vehicles as well. To my surprise, there seemed to be a lot of them! I had never seen so many before.

I started thinking about this and realized that there were not any more yellow vehicles around than there had been, but I was just more aware of them. I had shifted my awareness and now yellow vehicles were on my radar when they hadn't been before. I started remembering different articles on the subject of mind filters and awareness shifts that I had read over the previous month. I realized that this incident didn't mean I had changed any energy levels or reached a higher level of awareness, I had just adjusted my 800 bit filter and was now aware of the yellow vehicles that I wasn't paying any attention to a short while ago.

800 bit filter? What in heavens name is that?

Like many things that are simple, the concept itself is simple, but the ramifications are enormous. The long and the short of it is this. Scientists have discovered that the brain, through the input of the 5 senses, takes in approx. 200 million bits of information per second, while the brain only acknowledges approx. 800 bits per second!

Wait a minute! The brain only acknowledges 800 out of 200 million bits of information taken in? So what about all the rest of that information that comes in?

Well, obviously there is much, much, much more information available at all times than we are consciously aware of. So what is the determining factor that controls what 800 bits of information we consciously accept out of 200 million bits of available information?

Again the answer is deceptively simple. The answer is, CHOICE! You create the 800 bit filter by what you choose to focus on. Just like in the example above, when I chose to focus on seeing yellow vehicles, my filter shifted just enough to allow me to be aware of the yellow vehicles that we passed instead of labeling that information as unimportant and ignoring it. You can use this ability to adjust your 800 bit filter in many ways.

Again, it comes down to how you choose to use it. You can choose to focus on every annoyance and depressing thing that you come across, or you can use it to tune these things out and focus on all the exciting and inspirational things that go on around you. It is all there, it is simply your focus that determines which your filter allows through to your consciousness.

You can also use it to see and take advantage of opportunities for personal and/or financial
growth. Or, you can choose to not acknowledge these opportunities in order to maintain your choice of being a victim and harvesting the pity and sense of others feeling sorry for you. It all comes down to CHOICE!

You Can Choose to look for Opportunities!

If you choose to look for opportunities, you choose to adjust your 800 bit filter so that you become aware of the endless possibilities around you. When you set a goal or state an intention, you adjust your 800 bit filter. How many times does it appear that those who are successful are really lucky? It has nothing to do with luck. These people frequently succeed simply because they are focused on the goal. Things they didn't notice before are now all around them. It appears that they are lucky because they always seem to stumble on to just the right opportunity at just the right time, when in actuality, the opportunities have always been there for you and for them. It is simply how you have set your filter as to what you see and are aware of.

For example, if you state an intention like "I want to see a green balloon today," chances are you are going to see a green balloon. Not because it magically appeared, but because you have now adjusted your 800 bit filter and are now aware of the green balloons that happen to be around.

The same concept applies with other goals including financial goals or success goals. When you set your sights on a goal or intention, all sorts of opportunities and possibilities appear to help you attain that goal. It is not that they have just magically appeared, they have been there, you have just adjusted your filter so that you are able to see them. The trick is in recognizing them and taking action.

Have you noticed that opportunities have a way of finding busy people, people who get things done rather than lazy people? Why do you think that is? Could it be that busy people are looking for and aware of opportunities, while lazy people adjust their filter to not see them so they have an excuse to sit and do nothing? Again, it all comes down to CHOICE!

The bottom line is that the information is available to you and you have a filter that hides or acknowledges that information based solely on what choices you make for your life. If you truly, deeply believe something is true, you adjust your filter to acknowledge only what supports that belief. You can change that filter at any time with a simple act of will.

You must also realize that while you can choose to adjust your filter with an act of will, to make that adjustment a long term one means that you must choose to change some of your habits. Your habits are what set your filter when you're not thinking about it. Your daily habits are the choices that set your focus, so for long term success, work on your daily habits to control your filter. That means making CHOICES on a daily basis rather than allowing a set of habits to keep you in the rut they have built. Not making a choice means giving up control to all the other factors around you that you simply react to without thought.

So, the million dollar question is, What 800 Bits Do You Choose to Acknowledge?
MAKE A CHOICE!