The lilac chaser is an optical illusion where a series of lilac-colored discs appear to circle around a central point, eventually creating the illusion of a single green disc chasing them in a loop. To see it, focus your eyes steadily on the small black cross in the center of the image, and soon the green disc will seem to appear and erase the lilac ones as it goes around. This illusion shows how our perception can trick us into believing something is there when it isn’t, much like the way we sometimes convince ourselves that we’re making progress when we’re really just going in circles. In relationships or in our own thoughts, we can get stuck replaying the same patterns, chasing an illusion of change or closure. Just as the lilac chaser depends on where we fix our gaze, breaking these cycles requires shifting our focus to see what’s truly happening.