Reprogramming The Mind For Success

Imagine yourself; quietly sitting somewhere in a nice park, relaxing and watching a stream of ants do their thing, also noticing a sense of urgency in them, the sort of urgency that usually precedes a storm or rain. You watch in wonder, their strength, their knowingness, their loyalty, their co-operation and co-ordination, wondering how on earth such simple creatures create the cohesion they do.

Then you think of how the ability to sense rain or a storm serves such a grand purpose, not only for the ants but for the keen observer too, and in this case, you. If you had been wondering what you were going to do this weekend, the mere observation of the urgent ants will make you think twice about taking the boat out for a spot of fishing, or playing a round of golf with your buddies, or taking the family out for a picnic.

But then you decide to become on of the ants. All of sudden you are in a new world, a world of urgency, order and fear. You must serve the queen and her lava, you must perform your tasks, constantly communicating with other ants; you must be weary of any prey, and then attack anything that stands in your way. Phew! what it must be like to be an ant!

It may not be like that for the ant at all. They just do what they do, and maybe they have no awareness of this way of living for they have nothing to compare it to. But we do, we always have the ability to compare, to assess and to choose based on what we experience.

We all know we are emotional creatures; however what we may not understand is that our emotions serve a purpose, the purpose of allowing us to assess and make decisions based on what we are feeling, but from the observers point of view, not from the point of view of the ant; and this is exactly what most of us are doing. We live our lives, reacting to our emotions from the ants’ point of view and not the observers’ point of view.

To illustrate this, one of my pet emotional reactions is my reaction to arguing children. I don’t mind sharing this with you because I want you to feel as if we are all friends here. When children argue, especially my own, it can raise the hair on my neck! Why, because it is a reaction. At that moment in time I am the ant, thinking I have to defend myself from the noise or hysterics. But in reality, when I am able to distance myself and observe, all I am really experiencing is noise, and although I don’t like it, because it is irritating, I am able to deal with it more calmly and offer solutions.

The key difference here, and this difference can only be determined once someone becomes an observer, is that one is an automatic reaction, and the other is a calculated response. The ant reacts to its stimulus automatically, it never questions for it has no ability to, only doing what it is created to do. Humans on the other hand have the ability to choose a response to a stimulus, but only if they become aware that an emotion has become triggered within them.

Emotions therefore serve a very important purpose for people. They alert us to the fact that something is happening that is offering us a chance to question what is going on, and to choose our response. Much like the observer noticing the urgency in the ants, decides what may be and what may not be an appropriate activity in the next day or two, the person who notices an emotion he or she does not like can choose if the normal reaction is appropriate for all involved; and in most cases, if the normal reaction is automatic, it will not, and a new and more beneficial response can be employed. When this occurs and the person chooses a new and more beneficial response, much against the inner urge to react their normal way, the person would have moved out of their current comfort zone…..and this is called ‘growth’.

To succeed in anything in life you must grow!

To your success

Dean Whittingham

The complete step by step guide to Reprogramming your Mind for Success