A scotoma is defined as a blindspot that keep us from realizing our potential. In other words it's like looking at something right in front of you but you can't see it. We all behave and act not as we see ourselves but as we perceive ourselves. Everyone has scotomas, they are based on our religious preference, the way we were raised as well as what we have experienced in our lives. We become conditoned to the way things are in our lives; the way people talk to us, treat us, the way we treat others even the way we expect things to happen in our lives. Once we get our mind's set that this is the way things are when something change in our lives that doesn't match up with what we believe as the way things should be we tend to build a blindspot around it. It is with this type of reasoning that most of us limit our potential in life. Most of us have no idea that we have built these blindspots so we go through life believe that we are not as smart as the other person or can never be good at math or that many goals we wish we could achieve are not possible for whatever reason. Our conditioning cause us to think this way. We must learn to stop behaving and acting on the truth as we believe or perceive it but start acting and behaving in accordance with the truth as it is.
One of the areas in my life where I have scotomas is my nursing education. I have tried twice times to start my nursing education and I always seem to sabotage my education. I felt that I did the same thing just last year when I quit clinicals. I now know that is not the case at all. I actually broke a scotoma. I made a realization that I had to make a change in my life if I ever wanted to be a nurse. Continuing to believe that because I am bipolar was a scotoma. Understanding my condition, taking my medication and getting counseling is releasing that scotoma.
The benefits of knowing about blindspots is that now I am on the lookout for them. I am now always trying to find new options and ideas this allows me to be more receptive to new ideas.
