The Missing Tile Syndrome | 5 Minute Videos | PragerU

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I wish I were ____"? Adjectives may have included: thinner, taller, smarter, etc. If so, you're like virtually everyone else, and afflicted by "The Missing Tile Syndrome." As Dennis Prager explains, we often focus on the missing tile(s) in our lives, which robs us of happiness. In five minutes, learn how to fix your focus.

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Script:

I would like you to imagine sitting in a room, looking up at a tiled ceiling. And you notice that one tile is missing - just one. What would you concentrate your vision on? What would you look at the most? The answer of course, is the missing tile.

Now, that’s fine for ceilings, in fact it’s actually good because we can replace a ceiling’s missing tile and once again have a perfect ceiling. Ceilings, after all, can be perfect. But this doesn’t apply to life. Most of what is missing in our lives, or what we think is missing, cannot be replaced. Unlike a ceiling, life can never be made perfect. For that reason, concentrating on the missing tiles in your life is a big problem.

Let me give you the example that taught me this great lesson about what I call The Missing Tile Syndrome.

A bald man once said to me, “You know, Dennis, whenever I walk into a room with people, all I see is hair. When I heard this I immediately realized in this regard this man sees the world completely differently from how I do. Because I have all my hair, when I walk into a room I don’t even notice hair. It’s not a missing tile for me. But for this person, hair is what he sees. This applies, in some way, to everyone.

When a woman who thinks she has imperfect legs walks into a room, all she sees are perfect legs. Or take the example of the woman who once said to me, “Wherever I go, all I see are pregnanyt women.” Now how could that be? The vast majority of women, even those young enough to be pregnant, are not pregnant at any given time. But that was all she saw because she wanted to get pregnant and wasn’t able to. Her missing tile was not having a child. That’s the way human nature is: we focus on what’s missing in our lives.

The Missing Tile Syndrome is a very big obstacle to happiness. So big, in fact, that it makes happiness almost impossible. There will always be something missing in your life. When you see other people’s kids, you’ll think you see tiles that are missing in your own children. “Gee, why can’t my kids study as hard, or be as polite, or be as bright, or be as good looking, or be as athletic.” The same holds true regarding our spouses, our work, our looks. The list is endless.

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