Week 1
Questioning Your Reactions
“Nothing’s good nor bad but thinking makes it so.”
—William Shakespeare
Have you ever noticed how babies and very small children experience an injury, react to it, and then move on to the next adventure with the adverse event forgotten? Such minimal reactions to a physical injury can amaze adults who might expect the child to respond in quite a different way.
Questioning Your Reactions
“Nothing’s good nor bad but thinking makes it so.”
—William Shakespeare
Have you ever noticed how babies and very small children experience an injury, react to it, and then move on to the next adventure with the adverse event forgotten? Such minimal reactions to a physical injury can amaze adults who might expect the child to respond in quite a different way.
As we grow older, we are more apt to judge things as “bad” or “good.” Over time, when something “bad” happens, our reactions become stronger, and we hold on to them longer, as they carry with them memories of a history of past hurts. In this way, we pass from the realm of purely physical reaction into the realm of memory reaction, associating with the memory of what is bad.
This is where we find ourselves as adults, mentally carrying around a detailed list of good things and bad things. And as we go through our daily lives, we continue to judge the things in our lives as either good or bad.
But what if we realized our judgments were arbitrary? It is an observable fact that what some call bad, others call good. Could it be that a bad experience is uncomfortable because of how we are thinking about it, and what it reminds us of? Is it possible that we could change the experience if we were able to change our thoughts about it?
This first lesson challenges you to consider the possibility that there is indeed a relationship between thought and experience. As you go through the week, note your negative reactions, and consider an alternative response.
Application Exercise
- Start your Seeing Good At Work notebook today. Each week, begin by writing the week number at the top of the page. For example, today you will write “Week 1.”
- Next, begin two lists for this week’s application exercise. One is “Things I Like” and the other is “Things I Don’t Like.” Each day this week, take two minutes to look around and identify things that please you and things that don’t please you, and list them under these headings.
- Remembering Shakespeare’s quote that “nothing’s good nor bad but thinking makes it so,” look at your list. For each item you’ve written, say to yourself, “I have chosen to like/not like ______________________.”
- Throughout the week, whenever you notice yourself labeling something or someone as bad, gently ask yourself the question: Is there any other way I could be thinking or feeling now?
Remind Yourself:
I choose my reactions to people and events.
