Can one thought change our experience?
By Mark Vincent
Share
Have you noticed that some days we get up in the morning, feeling happy and energised? Meetings go well, we get into our flow and, quite frankly, just about anything seems possible.
On another day, we’ll struggle to even get out of bed and the rest of the day just makes us wish we hadn’t!
Why is this?
Some days we may be obsessing over a problem and the next day we wonder what all the fuss was about and why we were so bothered. We may even have a solution that just hits us out of the blue; apparently that happens a lot in the shower!
Many of us fly a lot, either for business or pleasure. When a plane hits turbulence, are you one of those people who feels totally comfortable or are you more likely to feel your heart racing and believe the end is near?
We assume in these situations it’s the external thing happening which is causing us to feel the way we do, whether it’s the problem we’re trying to solve or the turbulence on the flight.
If this was the case, then everyone would feel the same about turbulence and we wouldn’t see the same problem differently from one day to the next. This suggests our experience isn’t directly caused by the external situation but comes from somewhere else.
Our experience is created from the inside
I experienced this recently at a theme park. I was about to take a friend on a roller coaster that just drops vertically into a black hole…you may know the one. I’d been before but my friend hadn’t and, while we were in the queue, I asked her why her heart is beating so quickly. She asked me how I knew and I said, “because mine is too”. The interesting part is that nothing had happened at that point; we were just standing in a queue! I don’t know about you but that doesn’t happen when I’m queuing at the supermarket.
The ride itself was over in seconds and was quite exhilarating. The fear we both felt was created internally before the ride had started and had nothing to do with the reality of either the ride itself or standing in the queue.
How we were both feeling was created by our thinking about what we thought we were going to face. It was so powerful that it caused a physical reaction; adrenaline was released and caused our hearts to beat faster. All that, just from a thought.
The reason for pointing this out?
Understanding the truth behind where our experience really comes from has profound implications in business and especially where change or conflict is concerned. We all experience the same reality in different ways, so be prepared. The behaviours of others around you will point directly to the way they are experiencing their thinking and not from the situation itself.
Don’t just take my word for it though. See if you can spot it happening, either in yourself or in those around you.
If you’d like to know more I can highly recommend the following:
http://insightprinciples.com/invisible-power/
https://www.onesolutionglobal.org/
Or do get in touch using the contact details below.
Get in touch
If you’re starting a change, or already on the journey and need some support, we can help.
Whether it’s coaching or mentoring your leadership team, diagnosing low engagement or leading a change on your behalf, we have a range of options to suit different situations and budgets. Contact us by clicking the button to find out more.
Related content
Bill Gates: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
Covid-19 has taken our attention for the past 18 months, rightly so, and now we need to turn our attention back to our next existential challenge, our climate and reducing emissions. This excellent book gives us cause for optimism that many of the solutions we need are within our reach.
Dan Ariely – What Makes us Feel Good About our Work
An excellent TED by Dan Ariely on the importance of meaning to our motivation and therefore our level of engagement and creativity at work.
The Secret to Reducing Change Resistance and Fatigue in Your Organisation
Facing a blend of change resistance and fatigue, Claire’s story highlights the real-world challenges leaders face in evolving business landscapes. What causes change resistance and change fatigue and how are they linked? Learn practical solutions to reduce them and drive successful change in your organisation.
Charles Duhigg – The Power of Habit – Book and TED Talk
Apparently 85% of what we do is driven by habit. Think about driving a car or doing mundane chores at home, often we’re lost in thought and only barely conscious of what we’re doing. Habits can work for us or against us. In this excellent book and TED talk Charles Duhigg shows us how we can hack our less useful habits to create new, better ones. And the real eye opener for me was the realisation that an organisation can have group habits too and they can equally be productive or destructive.
Dan Ariely: How to Change Your Behaviour for the Better
Why do our behaviours so often fail to live up to our good intentions? Some great tips and ideas to consider when making changes not only for ourselves but in those around us.
Professor Steve Peters – The Chimp Paradox
We love this book because it goes a long way towards explaining why our actions and behaviours often don’t live up to our good intentions. The recognition that different parts of our brain are operating simultaneously at any given moment, often in competition with each other, helps us to see our own emotions and behaviours and those of others around us in a whole new light. In our view this is essential reading for anyone who is looking to influence human behaviour or understand their own. For those who want a quick intro, the link will take you to his TED talk.
No Fields Found.