The area I live in here in Maryland has the fascinating natural phenomenon of producing various sizes of sharks teeth on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. I have gotten into the habit of looking for them while on walks with my husband. He takes photos and I collect things. I am usually not out early enough to spot the teeth, so my pockets get filled with other things like sea glass and cool rocks. On New Year’s, I started a new focus of collecting heart shaped rocks. This was an idea I first read about in the book Coffee Self-Talk: 5 Minutes a Day to Start Living Your Magical Life by Kristin Helmstetter. On my first outing, I collected over six heart shaped rocks. The more I found, the easier it became to spot them. This is because of something called the Tetris Effect.

The Tetris Effect is a phenomenon that occurs when people devote so much time and attention to an activity that it begins to pattern their thoughts, mental images, and dreams. The name comes from the popular video game Tetris, where players arrange falling blocks to create complete lines. After playing Tetris for a prolonged period, players sometimes report seeing falling shapes or imagining ways to fit objects together in their daily lives, even when they are not playing the game.

This effect is not limited to Tetris or video games; it can occur with any repetitive, pattern-based activity. It highlights the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize itself based on experiences and activities. This is called neuroplasticity. The Tetris Effect is a type of mental afterimage that reflects the brain’s tendency to continue processing information from a repetitive task even after the task has been completed.

In this context, the person might find that after spending a considerable amount of time on the beach collecting these rocks, their thoughts and mental images start to involuntarily focus on finding or identifying heart shapes in their surroundings, even when they are not actively looking for them. They might see patterns resembling heart shapes in the sand, waves, or other objects, and their mind might continue to engage with the activity even when they are not physically collecting rocks.

This phenomenon illustrates how the brain can adapt to repetitive activities and how the effects of those activities can linger in one’s perception and thought processes beyond the actual engagement with the activity. The same thing happens when we repeat affirmations or list daily gratitudes. Author Shawn Achor uses the Tetris Effect in his book The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life to explain how this can be applied to positive and constructive activities such as seeing positivity in the world around you. If you consciously focuses on finding positive aspects in your daily life, such as acts of kindness, beauty in nature, or moments of joy, you may start to develop a mental habit of seeking out and recognizing positive elements in various situations. You might find that your thoughts naturally gravitate toward positive observations, even when you are not intentionally looking for them. You may start seeing the world through a more optimistic lens, noticing uplifting moments, and interpreting events in a positive light.

Our thought patterns and perceptions can be shaped by intentional focus and repetition. By actively seeking and acknowledging positive aspects in daily life, individuals can cultivate a more positive mindset that influences how they perceive and interact with the world around them. Just like scanning the beach for heart shaped rocks, the more you scan for positivity, the easier it will be to find.

To read more about this concept, click here and here to add both of the above mentioned books to your Amazon cart! You may also enjoy reading in Jane McGonigal’s book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully about how playing Tetris can help lessen the negative impacts on trauma victims. Happy reading!