One day last year I was riding my bike up Sabino Canyon early in the morning before work. We live just about one mile from the canyon, and it’s a perfect hilly workout location for running or cycling because it’s short and paved. It’s 3.7 miles up into the canyon, and 3.7 miles back down. You cross 7 brides along the route. Yes, there’s always the risk of snakes and mountain lions, but I prefer to live with a little danger. So there I am, riding along, and suddenly this awesome perfect happy song came on my iPod and I found myself sort of dancing on the bike pedals and shaking my hips. The exact song wasn’t important, but if you must know, it was “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” by Scissor Sisters. Anyway, there I am, dancing along on my bike, flying on this downhill section in this gorgeous canyon, just after sunrise, and everything is perfect in the world.
And then this thought came into my head: “Why don’t I have more happy music on my iPod?”
I immediately realized it is because I don’t actively search for happy songs. I don’t intentionally filter on happy, upbeat music. I have never typed “happy music” into the search bar on iTunes. What I do instead is this. Every few months I’ll go into the iTunes store and search the top music charts in every genre to find new music that is fast enough to workout to. I’ll pick some country, some rock, some alternative, some dance, some rap, and some pop. But I really just try to find songs that are not annoying, are not slow, and have a consistent beat that will distract me while exercising. But I’ve never once tried to search for, or select for, music that makes me smile. Which is why I don't have more upbeat music on my iPod.
Then it occurred to me that in our current online world, almost everything can be searched. Our email, our music, our photos, our videos/movies, websites, virtually ALL OF IT has the ability to be searched. And searching is just another form of filtering – we are always either filtering in content or filtering out content. And every time we apply a filter to information, we shape the reality of our results.
This is true in life as much as it is on Google or iTunes or email. The filters that we apply to our daily lives shape the fabric of our daily lives.
We have the ability to filter in or filter out people, coworkers, news, movies, television, neighbors, and animals. The fact that our daily lives are full of so much information, so much stimulus all day every day, means that we are always constantly filtering in and filtering out. Most of the time we do this unconsciously - we don’t even realize we are doing it. Yet, the very act of filtering determines the content of our days. We can choose to filter in “optimistic people” or we can choose to filter in “cranky people.” We can choose to search on “supportive friends” or we can choose to search on “geographically close friends.” I can choose to search on “new popular music” or “upbeat happy music.” The choice is always mine, even though I will frequently forget I have this choice.
The point is that we always have the ability to actively choose our filters – with the people in our lives as well as the content on our computer screens and the music on our iPods. By choosing our filters well, we can create the lives that we most want. I can have happy music on my iPod if I decide that’s what I will load. We have the capability every day to actively shape the nature of our reality, if we choose to.
So be conscious of what you search for every day, because as Mark Levy says in Accidental Genius, “You discover what you search for.”
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