Believing is Seeing

Plus last chance for Club Members to enter the January raffle

I’m Brandon Wilson. I am constantly working toward improving my mind, body, and spirit using various ancient techniques and cutting-edge biohacking tools and devices. I want to be healthy, but not at the expense of being happy. This simple idea is what it means to be wellthy.

For just $6 per month ($1.50 per newsletter), you get access to the entire archive of over 200 newsletters, audio voiceovers (with extra content and always read by me), and participation in the brain training raffle to win monthly biohacking gift bags.

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You’ve probably heard the phrase “seeing is believing” many times. What if it’s the other way around?

Years ago, someone told me, “Your perception is your reality.” I thought to myself, that makes no sense. There is an objective physical reality, and we should all see it the same way. The problem is that two major factors influence our perception of reality—our physical body and our beliefs (mindset). Both systems affect how we perceive the world, for better or worse.

How Our Physical Body Gets Fooled

Remember the blue/gold dress controversy from ten years ago? People were looking at the same picture of a dress and could not agree on the color.

Here is a simple example. Which square below is darker?

Example of the Cornsweet Illusion

The odds are that you will say the left one. Now, put your finger over the line in the middle, and you’ll see they are the same shade. Here is another example called the Adelson Checker Shadow Illusion. Clearly, square A is darker than square B.

Now, we modify the picture by casting a shadow over square B. Even though square A still looks darker than square B, they are both the same shade! I used a Colorpicker utility to verify that both squares are Hex #5C5C5C (RGB 92, 92, 92). The brain uses relative color and shading to determine what you think to be the color of objects.

Here is one more. The small square is the same color in both examples, left and right. However, we perceive color differently based on the other colors around it.

These examples illustrate how our eyes and brains can interpret reality differently. The next layer that is even more powerful is our beliefs.

The Power of Belief

There’s a reason randomized, double-blind, controlled experiments are the gold standard for scientific testing of hypotheses. The experimenters and the participants can influence the outcomes through their conscious and subconscious beliefs.

The word placebo derives from the Latin placebo, meaning “I shall please.” It was first used in the medical sense in 1785, "a medicine given more to please than to benefit the patient."¹ The placebo effect is when someone receives an intervention and sees improvements even though the intervention has no impact—for example, giving someone an empty capsule or an injection of saline solution instead of medicine with active ingredients. This fascinating mechanism works in reverse as well. The opposite is from the Latin nocebo, meaning “I shall harm.”

Reflect on how profound this is. You can control whether your body reacts positively or negatively through mere intention and expectation. As Tony Robbins often points out, “where focus goes, energy flows.” Have you ever known someone preparing for an important event and she keeps saying, “I better not get sick!” And what usually happens? What about people who call themselves “accident-prone” who always seem to be involved in accidents?

Our beliefs are extremely powerful and as strange as it sounds, they shape our reality.

“What you see is evidence of what you believe. Believe it and you’ll see it.” —Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

So the next time someone tells you that seeing is believing, tell them they have it backward.

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The Daily Habit is where I share my habits related to the fundamentals: sleep, diet, physical activity, mindfulness, and stress management.

My good friend and Club Member Scott S. shared a powerful concept with me. Consider a ping pong ball in which half is painted black, and the other half remains white, hanging from a string. Two people staring at the ball from opposite sides would see the ball differently—one sees a white ball, and the other sees a black ball. They’re both right. The world isn’t black and white. Any time you disagree with someone, consider how your perception and beliefs differ from theirs. Choose to be kind even when it seems that kindness is not returned.

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Refer Subscribers, Earn Perks!

With the new referral program, you can earn perks like a complimentary Club Membership and other goodies by unlocking three tiers:

• Get a 1-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club for 3 referrals.

• Get a 3-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club and receive a book from my personal library for 6 referrals.

• Get a 6-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club and a goodie bag prize for 15 referrals.

By the way, if you’re already a Club Member, the free months will be added to the end of your subscription. You'll get credit for new subscribers (free or paid) when you use the referral link below or the “Share” button on any post. Send the link in a text or email, or share it on social media with friends.

While signed into your Substack account, you can visit the leaderboard that shows you how many referrals you have.

To learn more about the referral program, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Thank you for helping get the word out about Be Wellthy!

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Last week’s answer

Be Wellthy Club entrants: Scott L., Ariel E., Scott S., Renata B.

Raffle prizes are for Be Wellthy Club Members only. Club members can email bewellthy@substack.com with the correct answer to each week’s brain training and be entered into a monthly raffle to win one of two prize packages every month. I do respond to every email.

This week:

I have two puzzles for you this week. Answer either one for one raffle entry or both for two raffle entries.

1. Fill in the missing letters to spell out foods.

   _ A _ B _ R _ E _

   _ I _ C _ M _ A _

   _ P _ G _ E _ T _

2. A month begins on a Friday and ends on a Friday, too. What month is it?'

See the answer.

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Four years ago, I captured some notes about success. Thoughts and goals determine what you want. Action determines what you get.

Keep your loved ones informed with the most up-to-date information about wellness by sharing this newsletter.

1. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=placebo