What do you think?
Rate this book
The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What's Right in Front of You
Do you ever feel like you're experiencing your life at only a fraction of its true clarity and depth?
Are your days dominated by a single emotion such as fear, sadness, anger, or disappointment?
At work or in your personal life, do you find yourself facing similar relationship patterns or conflicts again and again?
From our earliest years, we all acquire blind spots in the way we perceive, feel, and think. Driven by our biology, life experiences, cultural messages, and physical environment, they profoundly affect us throughout our lives.
This informative and practical guide invites us to how we get them, how to bring them to light, and how to work with that newfound awareness to improve our lives.
Here, author Kelly Boys presents emerging research from many fields of psychology and neuroscience, personal stories, and a wealth of hands-on exercises and practices to help us identify, welcome, and transform our own hidden domains.
Join her to
What we miss and how we miss it
• Attentional blink ―gaps in our sensory awareness and our astonishing potential to perceive more in each moment
• Decoding your unconscious stories―how they filter the truth and influence you
• Hacking your intuition―why our gut instincts are not always accurate, and ways to get it right more often
• The defended self ―uncovering the core beliefs that shape your emotional landscape
• Using moments of crisis to reveal especially elusive blind spots
• Falling in love, "crushing," cheating, and wholehearted loving―shining a light into the wilderness of intimate relationships
• Three biases that sabotage our judgment and how to counter them
• Self-compassion , welcoming , and vulnerability ―keys to clearer self-perception
• Flow states ―becoming fully immersed in what you do without the filters that diminish your natural way of perceiving and being
• Seeing yourself as others see you―safely engaging with someone you trust to gain greater self-awareness
• Illuminating the biggest blind spot of all―the illusion of an isolated and separate self, and how to free ourselves from the traps it creates
• Chapter-by-chapter practices―somatic, contemplative, and mindfulness-based―for self-discovery and change
Once we recognize our blind spots, we can't un see them. We release ourselves from unnecessary suffering and begin to experience each moment more richly. With The Blind Spot Effect , you're invited to illuminate what is right in front of you and within you―for greater wonder, joy, and fulfillment.
Are your days dominated by a single emotion such as fear, sadness, anger, or disappointment?
At work or in your personal life, do you find yourself facing similar relationship patterns or conflicts again and again?
From our earliest years, we all acquire blind spots in the way we perceive, feel, and think. Driven by our biology, life experiences, cultural messages, and physical environment, they profoundly affect us throughout our lives.
This informative and practical guide invites us to how we get them, how to bring them to light, and how to work with that newfound awareness to improve our lives.
Here, author Kelly Boys presents emerging research from many fields of psychology and neuroscience, personal stories, and a wealth of hands-on exercises and practices to help us identify, welcome, and transform our own hidden domains.
Join her to
What we miss and how we miss it
• Attentional blink ―gaps in our sensory awareness and our astonishing potential to perceive more in each moment
• Decoding your unconscious stories―how they filter the truth and influence you
• Hacking your intuition―why our gut instincts are not always accurate, and ways to get it right more often
• The defended self ―uncovering the core beliefs that shape your emotional landscape
• Using moments of crisis to reveal especially elusive blind spots
• Falling in love, "crushing," cheating, and wholehearted loving―shining a light into the wilderness of intimate relationships
• Three biases that sabotage our judgment and how to counter them
• Self-compassion , welcoming , and vulnerability ―keys to clearer self-perception
• Flow states ―becoming fully immersed in what you do without the filters that diminish your natural way of perceiving and being
• Seeing yourself as others see you―safely engaging with someone you trust to gain greater self-awareness
• Illuminating the biggest blind spot of all―the illusion of an isolated and separate self, and how to free ourselves from the traps it creates
• Chapter-by-chapter practices―somatic, contemplative, and mindfulness-based―for self-discovery and change
Once we recognize our blind spots, we can't un see them. We release ourselves from unnecessary suffering and begin to experience each moment more richly. With The Blind Spot Effect , you're invited to illuminate what is right in front of you and within you―for greater wonder, joy, and fulfillment.
208 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2018
49 people are currently reading
296 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 11, 2018
I've been meaning to try out a nonfiction book, and this one just happened to appear in my field of vision. There's something about self-awareness and improving general life living that calls me to self-help works, which is odd because reading is usually meant to get me out of my head and away from myself.
Here's the part where I either talk about how life changing this book is or how there's nothing "new" to the information it presents to its audience. Not exactly going to do either of those things.
I think the reason I kept reading The Blind Spot Effect was the discussion of the various psychological studies that were mentioned every once in a while. I'm assuming credibility is okay, but I guess I could google out one of the ones I liked if need be. They were definitely pretty fun to learn about; human behavior is just so weird, you know?
In terms of the actual discussion itself, the whole advice giving part was generally on the drier side for me. While it's understandable that generalizations were unavoidable and everything, it kind of got to me that assumptions upon assumptions were being made, many of which didn't exactly apply for my life.
One of the big things that the author played off of was mindfulness. Personally, apps like Headspace kind of work for me, but especially since a significant amount of the book involved the importance of presence and whatnot, I think the author could have really tried to elaborate more on what mindfulness could be for people as opposed to what it could do–if that makes sense. I felt like I was missing something as I read, which was definitely a tad unsettling.
All this talk about blind spots was intriguing, but I don't think this book was quite what I was looking for in my quest for self-discovery and my already questionable mental state. Just a thought: the target audience may or may not be what it appears to be, as the advice seems to be(?) geared toward relatively stable people looking for something that could be life changing.
Best of luck in publishing, and my thanks to Netgalley and Sounds True Publishing for the interesting read!
Here's the part where I either talk about how life changing this book is or how there's nothing "new" to the information it presents to its audience. Not exactly going to do either of those things.
I think the reason I kept reading The Blind Spot Effect was the discussion of the various psychological studies that were mentioned every once in a while. I'm assuming credibility is okay, but I guess I could google out one of the ones I liked if need be. They were definitely pretty fun to learn about; human behavior is just so weird, you know?
In terms of the actual discussion itself, the whole advice giving part was generally on the drier side for me. While it's understandable that generalizations were unavoidable and everything, it kind of got to me that assumptions upon assumptions were being made, many of which didn't exactly apply for my life.
One of the big things that the author played off of was mindfulness. Personally, apps like Headspace kind of work for me, but especially since a significant amount of the book involved the importance of presence and whatnot, I think the author could have really tried to elaborate more on what mindfulness could be for people as opposed to what it could do–if that makes sense. I felt like I was missing something as I read, which was definitely a tad unsettling.
All this talk about blind spots was intriguing, but I don't think this book was quite what I was looking for in my quest for self-discovery and my already questionable mental state. Just a thought: the target audience may or may not be what it appears to be, as the advice seems to be(?) geared toward relatively stable people looking for something that could be life changing.
Best of luck in publishing, and my thanks to Netgalley and Sounds True Publishing for the interesting read!
September 27, 2019
Boys provides a roadmap with lots of practice outlines about how to become aware of blind spots to embrace your whole messy human self.
June 11, 2018
The Blind Spot Effect is a book that essentially teaches how to pay attention to your thoughts and improve your observation of the world around you in order to find your blind spots. the end game of this is to enable you to make better decisions.
WHO WOULD ENJOY IT?
Anyone looking to improve their decision making.
IS IT WORTH READING?
There are a lot of real-life examples in this book, with quotations from experts that deal with the mind and brain. If you do not mind going through all this, then you will enjoy this book. The content is valuable and if you read carefully, could change the way you perceive things.
SAMPLE PASSAGE
Stories don’t always steer us in the right direction. Having a coherent narrative about something, no matter what it is, from “I’m fat” to “Immigrants are taking all our jobs” to “Our company is the best and will never be beat,” may all be easy on the brain, but are they true? We are generally accurate with our stories — at least enough to keep from bumping into walls while walking, to agree that a red light means stop, and to remember people’s names and the capital of Nebraska. So we tend to think all our stories are true. This is important to understand. Questioning our ideas and assumptions is hard. That’s why we dupe ourselves; we confirm our own ideas so quickly, based on the assumption that we are accurate, that we miss the chance to see whether we missed something. Our need to create coherent stories and have them feel believable (and hence unquestioned) leads us to form and protect blind spots.
-----------
The Blind Spot Effect: How to Sto Missing What's Right in Front of You by Kelly Boys is available to buy on all major online bookstores from July 2018. Many thanks to Sounds True Publishing for review copy.
WHO WOULD ENJOY IT?
Anyone looking to improve their decision making.
IS IT WORTH READING?
There are a lot of real-life examples in this book, with quotations from experts that deal with the mind and brain. If you do not mind going through all this, then you will enjoy this book. The content is valuable and if you read carefully, could change the way you perceive things.
SAMPLE PASSAGE
Stories don’t always steer us in the right direction. Having a coherent narrative about something, no matter what it is, from “I’m fat” to “Immigrants are taking all our jobs” to “Our company is the best and will never be beat,” may all be easy on the brain, but are they true? We are generally accurate with our stories — at least enough to keep from bumping into walls while walking, to agree that a red light means stop, and to remember people’s names and the capital of Nebraska. So we tend to think all our stories are true. This is important to understand. Questioning our ideas and assumptions is hard. That’s why we dupe ourselves; we confirm our own ideas so quickly, based on the assumption that we are accurate, that we miss the chance to see whether we missed something. Our need to create coherent stories and have them feel believable (and hence unquestioned) leads us to form and protect blind spots.
-----------
The Blind Spot Effect: How to Sto Missing What's Right in Front of You by Kelly Boys is available to buy on all major online bookstores from July 2018. Many thanks to Sounds True Publishing for review copy.
November 19, 2023
The Blind Spot Effect is a well written self help book that is full of helpful insights and practical exercises to help you locate and shine the spotlight on your hidden blind spots. I found this book to be wonderfully enlightening and full of hope and positivity that I desperately needed in contrast to the dire and depressing events overwhelming us every time we turn on the tv or look at the dire events on the news flashing across the computer or pick up a newspaper.
Kelly Boys is a well qualified and educated teacher and trainer of mindfulness practices. Her writing flows smoothly and is easily digested and comprehended so that we are able to put the techniques and exercises described into practice. By becoming aware of our blind spots, Kelly tells us how we can accept them and welcome them rather than pushing back on them. It was welcome news to find out that we all have blind spots, and that I was not alone in some of the decisions I made in life that turned out so bad, particularly when it comes to love. There is an entire chapter on love and it was very enlightening to me as it explained why I made some of the seemingly inexplicable choices that I did.
Even the author's Afterword section had me glued to the page in fascination as she described some transcendent experiences in her own life. (I was also amazed to hear of a master's program she considered entering in Hamburg, Germany for peace research and security studies. There is such a study program? Why, oh why don't humans utilize such intellectual sources and embrace humanity and love, instead of war and hate??
Kelly Boys is a well qualified and educated teacher and trainer of mindfulness practices. Her writing flows smoothly and is easily digested and comprehended so that we are able to put the techniques and exercises described into practice. By becoming aware of our blind spots, Kelly tells us how we can accept them and welcome them rather than pushing back on them. It was welcome news to find out that we all have blind spots, and that I was not alone in some of the decisions I made in life that turned out so bad, particularly when it comes to love. There is an entire chapter on love and it was very enlightening to me as it explained why I made some of the seemingly inexplicable choices that I did.
Even the author's Afterword section had me glued to the page in fascination as she described some transcendent experiences in her own life. (I was also amazed to hear of a master's program she considered entering in Hamburg, Germany for peace research and security studies. There is such a study program? Why, oh why don't humans utilize such intellectual sources and embrace humanity and love, instead of war and hate??
January 17, 2022
A bit disappointed by this one, although the topic is timely, the content of the book is half a rehash of behavioral science pop-sci "stuff" on first-order/second-order thinking of Kahneman/Tversky with respect to improving decision-making (but applied to 'blindspots'). The other half is the kind of shallow corprotized mindfulness stuff you can get anywhere. For those who are totally new to this material, the material isn't bad. It's just unfortunate that most books that are published in this space are aimed at people who haven't even read one mindfulness text, instead those who are looking for something a bit more "intermediate". I guess the skinny for that is the "intermediate" and advanced you can only get in expensive workshops and retreats. Recommended as a decently written possible entry point (along with 100s of other titles in this space), not recommended for anyone else.
August 13, 2018
Wonderfully written and informative book! I love it when a book sparks new insights and with this one, I should stay away from dry leaves. Very useful and easy to understand.
I was hoping that a book about blind spots would help me see my own. It did, but it also assured me that this totally normal and you can't get rid of every blind spot in life.
Great choice for a Top 10 Books on self-development recommendations or for the friend who is always looking for something unique to read. If you are in the helping profession (therapist, coach, etc) you need this book!
I was hoping that a book about blind spots would help me see my own. It did, but it also assured me that this totally normal and you can't get rid of every blind spot in life.
Great choice for a Top 10 Books on self-development recommendations or for the friend who is always looking for something unique to read. If you are in the helping profession (therapist, coach, etc) you need this book!
November 14, 2021
The Blind Spot Effect was super helpful for me.
It’s written in a down to earth, compassionate, and often funny manner.
Kelly skillfully explains what blind spots are and lays out the steps needed to uncover them.
I recently heard her on a podcast describe the process as a treasure hunt (instead of a witch hunt), which I thought was an encouraging and healthy way to approach it.
If you’re interested in personal growth and want to discover patterns that are holding you back, I’d recommend picking up this book (or listening to it, as I did).
It’s written in a down to earth, compassionate, and often funny manner.
Kelly skillfully explains what blind spots are and lays out the steps needed to uncover them.
I recently heard her on a podcast describe the process as a treasure hunt (instead of a witch hunt), which I thought was an encouraging and healthy way to approach it.
If you’re interested in personal growth and want to discover patterns that are holding you back, I’d recommend picking up this book (or listening to it, as I did).
January 14, 2023
This has really had me thinking a lot about my blind spot and hoping I can do the work and feel safe enough to find it and have more growth and awareness. I am also noting others blind spots and find it fascinating.
November 17, 2018
3.5
Read it through. Now to go back, slowly, and do the exercises in the book. Many look especially promising. I expect my rating to change upward once I've done that.
Read it through. Now to go back, slowly, and do the exercises in the book. Many look especially promising. I expect my rating to change upward once I've done that.
March 4, 2022
A fantastic book which takes a unique approach to becoming aware of ourselves.
October 31, 2018
Well written, with excellent exercises. Some of the exercises are similar to Gestalt processes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2018
Thank you Sounds True Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.
I initially read this book many weeks ago and recently came back it the passages I had highlighted and the exercises throughout. This book is fantastic for reminding us that we filter incoming information to fit with our biases, and how to recognise this as it occurs and live in a more open, non judgemental manner. A wonderful book to remind us to live more mindfully and from a less ‘I’ centric place.
The book draws on research referred to in many respected books, one example being ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’.
I enjoyed the initial read and enjoyed returned to all my highlighted places just as much.
A highly recommended book, thank you for the opportunity to read and review it.
I initially read this book many weeks ago and recently came back it the passages I had highlighted and the exercises throughout. This book is fantastic for reminding us that we filter incoming information to fit with our biases, and how to recognise this as it occurs and live in a more open, non judgemental manner. A wonderful book to remind us to live more mindfully and from a less ‘I’ centric place.
The book draws on research referred to in many respected books, one example being ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’.
I enjoyed the initial read and enjoyed returned to all my highlighted places just as much.
A highly recommended book, thank you for the opportunity to read and review it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews