To Change Your Default Settings Is To Change the Way You Look At Things Change your default settings and a whole new world may open up to you. Another great way of expressing it is “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” So what do I mean by default settings? I mean your automatic reaction to any given situation. It is your pre-programmed response to an external stimulus. When I say pre-programmed I don’t mean an autonomic response from the involuntary portion of your brain. What I mean here is what you have taught yourself to respond with given a certain set of circumstances. For example; a close family member of yours acts angrily towards you for what you perceive to be no reason at all. This person means a lot to you so you do care about what he or she thinks of you and what you are doing. If you greeted anger with anger then you are not alone as this is quite a common reaction. Please consider that we are not judging right or wrong here but essentially what is helpful or not helpful to all parties concerned. We all have had situations when we reacted badly to something that has happened to us. If we speak specifically about anger then it is easy to see how effortlessly we greet anger with anger. But is it effortless or just automatic? There is a big difference. How much effort does it take to be angry? If you think about it it takes quite a lot of energy to be angry at someone else, yourself or anything for that matter. All that energy is wasted. How many times have you felt good about being angry with someone? There may be a moment of satisfaction if you feel your anger is excelling the other person or people involved but where does that get you? It can then become a contest to see who is the angriest and that person is deemed the winner? Anger is one of our most powerful emotions and it has its uses though for the most part we can do without it most of the time. The same goes for all negative emotion. It all takes energy and we all have a finite amount of that. Save your energy for more positive pursuits by always thinking before you react. We have all taught ourselves how to react according to our default settings. It may seem quite natural to give the same emotion that is received and maybe up to this point you have done so but out of habit.
Habits are learned of course and as such can be changed. They can be consciously altered until the new way of doing things becomes the new habit. So isn’t your automatic response just that, automatic.
If it is automated then do you really want to go on acting without thought to given situations? Would it be better to practice thinking before acting? Obvious question of course but sometimes we need to ask ourselves the obvious questions. The point here is that if you don’t like your default setting you may change it at any time you choose. You may reprogram yourself to return a positive emotion to any outside stimulus that you may encounter. How? Like any new skill we all have to practice. The saying goes “Practice Makes Perfect.” Well maybe not many of us will achieve perfection but the pursuit of it is part of what makes us human beings. The next time someone acts unreasonably towards you try not to let your ego get in the way, but rather see things from that person’s point of view. He or she may be having a bad day and you have the power to make it better or worse. If the situation were reversed wouldn’t you welcome a friendly response from another person especially if you acted harshly towards them? You have the power to make a real difference in someones life today. Why not start practicing now? You can begin by paying attention. Give your complete attention to where you are, what you are doing, who you are with and whatever the situation demands. You may find it easier to resist offense when you are solely concentrated on what the other person or people need. If you are not thinking about yourself then it is more difficult to be offended by others. Learn more at laws-of-attraction.org.