We’re responsible for our actions. What we don’t often recognize is our reactions. Something happens and we don’t even know that it jerked off our path because the reaction is habitual and as persistent as air or gravity. It’s just the way it is as far as we’re concerned.
This time of year is a big one for entrenched behaviors, old business, and being reactive vs active or proactive. To bring a bit of healing or even positiveness into the “joy” of the holiday it helps to start paying attention to times when we react. How do you do that? Well, it’s a bit the same as when you start looking for Volkswagen Beetles during a road trip to play the “slugbug” game. You wouldn’t notice them usually but once you start looking you see them everywhere. Or when you are talking about seeing people walking their dogs in a certain area of town or noticing pregnant women…all you have to do is think about it and it’s like you put on a pair of glasses that highlights only those things.
So put on your reaction glasses. Hopefully you know how it feels when you’re not reacting to something. So if you’re paying attention to that you can notice when something changes. When someone does something or says something that makes you react in some way whether it is to apologize when it’s not your fault, defend yourself when you shouldn’t have to, step in when it’s someone else’s responsibility, say something you never meant to say, or just one more time do that one thing you can’t stand doing. 😛 You don’t have to immediately fix it, just notice that you did it. Admitting there’s an issue is half the battle. 🙂