The way we view life can often influence our emotions and how we behave.  We tend to attach meaning to things that happen to us such as the manner in which someone talks to us, how our team performs, watching the news etc….  Read more …

The meaning we attach to the events of our lives affects how we feel.  For example – if someone we’re talking to is showing little interest, we can feel a range of things.  We often take our automatic response as being a true reflection of what is happening and this can allow the emotions and behaviours to run away with us, creating repeated thoughts and feelings (that match with our beliefs about ourselves and the world).  Therefore, we could think that the person showing us little interest may not like us which could allow us to feel upset or rejected.  This may reinforce negative self-beliefs to allow us to perceive events in the future in an equally distorted way.  In reality, it’s more likely that they may have been busy, they may have lots on their mind or any number of different things.  As individuals, however, we attach the meaning to this from our own frame of reference and our own expectations.  In that sense, we truly do create our own world.

Therefore, as individuals, we can take control by stepping back and choosing to see things in a more realistic or balanced way.  This is not always easy as we’ve conditioned ourselves to think in the same old ways, however, by taking this control, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.  How would you seek to see things more rationally or realistically?