What do you see in the image above?

You almost certainly see rectangles.

But there are also sixteen circles.

Can you see them now?
Or did I just make you slightly confused.

This is the Coffer Illusion, created by visual neuroscientist Anthony Norcia. Most people lock onto the sharp corners and the predictable lines immediately. The brain finds them and stops looking.

But if you widen your attention, which shifts your whole system from alert to a more relaxed balanced mode, the circles appear. Suddenly and completely. As if they were always there.

To experience this, look at the image again while also remaining aware of the empty space on both sides of the screen, or/and the sensations in both of your hands.

When researchers showed this image to people in Namibia who live in open spaces, not relying on closed, narrow focus, they saw the circles instantly. The rectangles took longer.

Same image. Completely different reality. Not because of intelligence or eyesight. Because of how they use their attention.

We do not see the world as it is.

We see it through the way we use our attention.

Which raises an uncomfortable question for anyone who spends eight hours a day staring at a screen, focusing on problems, tasks and deadlines.

What are you missing?

And more importantly, what would you see, and feel, and how would you behave if you started using wide attention in your everyday life.

If this resonates, there is a 28-question assessment that shows you exactly where your attention style sits and what it is quietly costing you. Link in comments.


Find out whether the way you pay attention is quietly limiting your life.https://www.openfocusattentiontraining.com/2026/03/22/how-do-you-pay-attention/