Possibilities appear when we are relaxed, notice our thoughts and respond to what is happening with new ideas and solutions. In contrast, when we are in reaction-mode we hastily go to our mental library looking for easy answers. The best solution might be right in front of us.
For Day #8 of the Blog Rock Star Challenge I’ll will tell you about my first car. The real one is in the lower left corner. A 1966 Mustang with Pony Interior. I loved that car!
Hastily leaving for school one morning I prepared to slow for a familiar turn, and the brake pedal was GONE. The only thing left between me and the large pine tree at the bottom of the hill was a post where the brake should have been.
Somewhere in my driver’s training a teacher must have told me to pull the emergency brake if my brakes ever failed, and that’s what I did. I stopped in a shallow gully a few feet from the pine tree. Whew!
I was proud of myself for my quick thinking until my father pointed out that at the speed I was going I could easily have made the corner at the bottom of the hill. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t facing down that pine tree!
Yes, I could have made the turn. But I needed fast answers and went into reaction-mode to find them. My memory willingly provided the needed information from my past, and in this case, it was a good thing. But I missed what was right in front of me, the option to steer around the curve. In this case I didn’t have time to consider other possibilities.
If we allow ourselves to be sucked into reaction-mode on a daily basis, the same thing happens. We narrow our focus, seek quick answers and react. Our days get hijacked by other people’s priorities. As soon as that happens, our cortisol (stress) levels rise. We lose the ease and flow we planned for the day.
If your day starts something like this it might be time to consider another routine…
The alarm sounds. You get out of bed, shower, grab a cup of coffee and feel the p-u-l-l. Possibly you’ve felt it too. The one with the force like the tractor-beam in Star Trek.
Check Email…
Check Texts…
Check Facebook…
You have just primed yourself for a reaction-mode day. Your stress levels may not return to their baseline until the next morning. Just in time to do it again.
When your brain is in reaction-mode, you may not feel it physically at first. It may feel like you’re just revving up to take on the day. When this happens it’s easy for your priorities and commitments to fade into the mass of information at your fingertips
In a more subtle version of the missing brake pedal, we slip into reaction-mode, limiting access to the ease, flow and focus that were fully available when we first woke up. We are revved up to take on the day and once there, we seldom return.
From reaction-mode we’re much more likely to seek answers we already know rather than pausing a few minutes to consider other options.
Keep your eyes open for my next post where I share my favorite ways to start the morning, primed for ease and flow.
My first car was a Plymouth Valore. I didn’t get a car until the end of my Sophomore year in college. It was a great being able to go places and relying on other people. I took really good care of that car. That first summer I even worked 10 nights at the State Fair as a crew chief for a pronto pups and swirl fry stand. This money went for new tires for my car. The car taught me responsibility and a good work ethic is important if you want things in life.
Love your comments and the way you visualize both past and future 🙂
Joanne, you must have been looking over my shoulder. I often have the best day planned for productivity and then I allow something to pull me into reaction mode. Today, this will remind me to stay focused on what I planned instead of what others plan for me. Thanks for the heads-up message this morning!