Someone tells a joke and you laugh, but the guy beside you does not. Why not?
A quick answer to that is because he’s not thinking outside the box … and neither are you.
Event A happens, such as a joke being told, and this leads to Reaction A, being your laughter or your friend’s lack thereof.
If we were all the same, then Event A would always yield Reaction A. But that doesn’t happen. Even on a different day, the same joke may not be funny to YOU at all.
The difference comes from what lives within what I call your Reaction Box. If you imagine a horizontal line with Event A on the left and Reaction A on the right, your Reaction Box sits between them.
Within this box are all the conscious and subconscious beliefs, attitudes, opinions, ideas, experiences and memories that make up who you are today.
And every time you say “you did X so I’m naturally going to do X” or “he made me do it”, you are firmly entrenched in your Reaction Box. You blindly react without giving consideration to the illusions, lies and limiting thoughts that may be getting in your way.
Action – Ditch your outdated reactions and RESPOND to what is going on. Become more aware of the good, bad and ugly things that may live in your Reaction Box.
Think outside the box!