You always see what you are looking for. (Follow up to "Trust your old self has always done the right thing."

Ok. just a few weeks after writing that self-admiring article on always doing the right things, i have been whacked with 2 evidences, one after the other, that my past self is not always to be trusted. I can swear this only happened to me right after writing that article which finally saw print after being in my head for years. which led me to think -- was it mere coincidence? or has my old self really been disappointing me in the past and I just failed to notice. and then i figured, as if like a turned on light bulb, that maybe i became too conscious, too confident of my old self that my subconscious actively dared/searched for minutest possible instance to further strengthen and reaffirm my "conclusion".

It's a basic principle. You always find what you are looking for. In my case, I was looking for flaws (so confident that I won't find one) and I end up experiencing one after the other.

I tried this principle in some little experiments to satisfy my curious self. On my way to work, I told myself that I wanted to see "Blue." and there they were... like God given blessings -- blue cars, blue shirt, blue jeans, blue billboard, blue candy litter, blue sky. everything blue. taking it further i said wanted to see "red" -- again there they were -- red roses, red letters in an ambulance, red umbrella, red shirt, red van, i even noticed an old woman's red lipstick.

Ok, now I remember those days when I asked God for signs, while some of them I strongly believe were divine interventions, now i think great majority were simply products of my mindset at that time. No wonder I've been getting mixed "signs."

A thought: Does this principle apply when we're looking for missing items? It doesnt seem so.

in case you're wondering: one incident involved me searching for a lost cellphone manual which I should have placed right back inside the box where i would look for it next time I needed it while the other involved me hating my old self for forgetting to renew my driver's license.