You Can Choose Your Reactions
I was talking to a friend of mine some days back, and we stumbled upon the topic on happiness. If you think about it, all babies are happy. It’ll probably take some mammoth effort to find a baby that frowns all the time. True, babies cry, and that’s only because crying is their form of communication.
In fact, there are many things we can learn from babies. If you observe a baby who is learning to walk, that baby will likely fall countless times in the process. The thing is, the baby is also unlikely to sit down and think “walking is difficult, i think I’ll forget it”. Despite being taken out of their comfort zone of being carried around, babies still strive on and eventually make the breakthrough by walking without support.
How does this translate to adulthood? In situations where we are taken out of our comfort zone and we learn to survive, there’s usually an amount of personal growth within us. Yet people still whine and complain about unexpected changes.
Some of us might say, “But we have no choice”. Which brings me to my next point. We always have a choice on choosing the reactions we communicate. You see, the beautiful thing about being a human is that we are aware of our reactions towards external stimuli.
Many of you would have read or heard about Pavlov’s dog, the experiment where the dog was conditioned to salivate whenever he hears a bell because it triggers the thought of food. The dog can’t choose it’s response, it is more of an instinctive response. The dog isn‘t even aware of the programming and conditioning that has taken place.
Humans on the other hand, are aware of such things. When something causes us to have a reaction, we are aware of it. And if we are aware of it, we can choose how we want to react! While animals are generally reactive towards stimulus, humans can choose whether to react, and how to react.
So the next time something unpleasant happens and you’re triggered to react immediately, tell yourself, you have a choice on how to react. You can choose to take the action that would make you happier. When you are aware of the choices you have, you empower yourself immediately. Conversely, if you choose to react without thinking, then you’ve just given away your self empowerment.
Recent Comments