A Psychologist Once Was Interviewing A Patient. ...

A psychologist once was interviewing a patient. This patient was chronically depressed, hated life, blamed others for his own issues, and was obsessed with his own feelings of low self worth. After some time of complaining about this and that, the patient finally drew a halting breath and allowed the psychologist to speak. The psychologist grabbed a white, blank sheet of paper. He told his patient to look closely at this piece of paper. He instructed him to notice how white and large it was. The patient complied and after a bit the psychologist withdrew the paper and took out his pen and scribbled a small dot on the paper. The psychologist then asked his patient to re-view the paper. He asked, “What do you see?” “I see a dot,” the patient retorted quickly. “What else do you see on the paper?” asked the psychologist. “Just the dot.” “Really?” The psychologist responded, “The paper is still large and white. It hasn’t changed, yet you only see the dot?” “Yes, because I don’t want it there,” the patient responded glumly.