Selective Hearing

I was hiking the other day, listening to tunes on my Zune (Music Player). A song I have heard many times, and love, came on. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl," by Jet.

It's a catchy, upbeat song, great for motivating me when I'm hiking up a hill!

I was singing along with the song, as these lines came on:

Big black boots
Long blonde hair...
She's so sweet with her 'get back' stare!

I had a little 'twinge' internally and thought to myself, "Why do they always sing about blonde haired girls?"

I, of course, am a brunette. I felt a bit 'slighted' at that moment. My thought process went a bit like this:

How come it's always the blondes that are considered cute?
What's wrong with brown haired girls?
Why aren't we thought of as being cute too?
etc. etc. etc.

I played the song over a few times more. I still liked it, even if I felt my 'brunette-ness' was being dissed!

Suddenly, that line came up again... and I heard it:

Big black boots
Long BROWN hair
She's so sweet with her 'get back' stare!

I was stunned. Literally stunned. I have listened to that song hundreds of times, and I have always heard him sing BLONDE! Yet, every single time he was singing "BROWN."

It was a profound reminder to me that our hearing, seeing (and other senses) are quite selective.

When we have a deeply held belief, we scan our world CONSTANTLY for confirmation that we are right. It matters not whether the belief is negative or positive. My teacher, Chuck Bruni, used to always say, "The Universe is neutral!"

I have an internal belief that blondes are cuter than brunettes, and somehow I'm inferior because I'm brunette! I actually heard the lyrics INCORRECTLY to validate my theory! Amazing!

We have to really watch ourselves for this sort of internal distortion! We are well served when we do our best to become aware of what we think and believe about ourselves and this world of ours!

We will usually get to be right. Even if we have to distort the facts to do so!

Link to "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet