Today’s Feelings are
Yesterday's News
We interact with people, notice when they hurt us, or annoy us. We evaluate situations: "I like this and not that". We form judgments and make our choices, but is it that simple?
In an example, Sam went to a Tai restaurant, and since Sam didn't like another Tai restaurant a year ago, Sam is poised not to like this one either. In another situation, Joe lectured Sammany times on the righteousness of his political party. Unknown to Sam, Joe has been minimizing his overzealous opinions. Yet, Sam avoids Joe. If Sam had been open, he and Joe might have enjoyed a great conversation. Somewhere Sam stopped listening to Joe and was unable to register any changes in Joe’s behavior. He is not even aware that he shut the door between Joe and himself.
When we make a choice, we create an imprint in our thinking. We wear our imprinted thinking 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our habits are who we are. We do something a certain way, and in time that is the only way that it is done. Improvements to accomplish this task are wrong. Did we build plexiglass funnels that we can't see, and our thoughts automatically conform to past patterns of past opinions and perceptions? The crazy part is that we are not even conscious of this process.
We get angry with a friend of ours. Hours later, we realize they sounded like someone else who had hurt us. Did we unconsciously react the way we did in the past situation?
Did old anger pop up in a second before we were even aware of it? Did we automatically transfer old feelings of resentment to a new condition? We are being automated!
Have we etched resentment into our thinking pattern, and now we are hardwired to see a reason to be resentful no matter what? Resentful is not a choice but a habit, a hardwired thinking pattern.
We love the music that we listened to as a teenager and hate the "junk" young people listen to. We can't derive enjoyment from new music because we already attached pleasure to the oldies. Why do we limit our choices?
How do we clear the cobwebs in our rational thinking and allow ourselves to experience the world anew? To make a new choice?
Although death stops the old thinking patterns, can we change our minds easier?
Can we learn to enjoy a new type of food, person, or experience that we love?
By Jill Mattson