R.A.S.

You See What You Seek: The Power of the Reticular Activating System (R.A.S.)

I was home for 32 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and during that time, I decided to rent a Tesla. I wanted to test it out before making a purchasing decision.

But something strange happened, even before I picked up the car, I started seeing Teslas everywhere. On the highway. In the grocery store parking lot. In my neighborhood. Friends I hadn’t talked to in a while suddenly mentioned they drove one. It felt like I was surrounded by them.

This morning, while taking a walk with my mom, I pointed out how many Teslas we passed. Ironically, she said, “It’s funny how, once something’s on your mind, you start seeing it everywhere.”

And that’s when it clicked: this was the Reticular Activating System at work.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS): Filtering Your World

The RAS is a part of the brain that acts like a filter. It tunes into the things you’ve brought into your awareness and brings more of those things to your attention.

The classic example? You start shopping for a specific car, and suddenly that car is everywhere. It’s not that the world changed, you just started noticing it.

Even though I know this concept, I didn’t realize I was living it until I had that walk with my mom. I got caught in a common psychological trap: we often don’t apply broad principles to ourselves. I call this applied psychology, or maybe even applied philosophy. It's one thing to understand a principle intellectually; it’s another to see it reflected in your own behavior.

Positivity, Negativity, and What You Notice

That realization got me thinking about how this filtering system doesn’t just apply to physical things; like cars it also applies to emotions and beliefs.

• When you're focused on positivity, you notice kindness, generosity, and thoughtfulness in the people around you.

• When you’re feeling negative or in a rut, suddenly the world seems selfish, greedy, and unkind.

The world itself hasn’t changed. You have.

This is a simple yet powerful truth. It gives each of us an opportunity to consciously shape how we experience our lives by adjusting what we allow into our awareness.

Try This Today

If what you focus on expands, then why not choose what you focus on intentionally?

Here’s a simple experiment:

• Choose something you want to notice more of—joy, gratitude, creativity, connection.

• Set physical reminders: a note on your mirror, an alert on your phone, a symbol on your desk.

• Pay attention to how much more of that thing you begin to see.

It could be something as light as a certain type of car, or something deeper like how thoughtful and loving people are.

Focus on Love

My personal favorite thing to focus on? Love.

My brother once told me, “Love is the only emotion. Every other emotion stems from it.” And I agree.

Even when people act selfishly or greedily, it’s often driven by love; love for themselves, for their family, for their sense of safety. When arguments arise, it can sometimes be because everyone involved is trying to do what they believe is best for those they care about. It’s just that their methods clash.

Once you start seeing the love beneath the tension, the world softens.

Final Thought

This idea isn’t just a mindset trick, it’s neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy rolled into one. The Reticular Activating System is always at work, whether you’re conscious of it or not.

So why not use it to your advantage?

Focus on something beautiful. Something you want more of. Love, gratitude, generosity, connection. Whatever you choose, bring it into your awareness, and watch how the world shifts around it.

I’m trying it today. Maybe you will, too.