Our lives may be full of emotional and circumstantial triggers that take us back to a unconscious traumatic experience and has us not feel good. Various therapies attempt to remove these triggers (hypnosis, years of conversation in non-directive psychiatry, or expensive sessions through Scientology, for instance). All of them work some of the time, but there is a better way!
Let us create new triggers that empower us.
Transformative Trigger #1
Laugh Right Now. LOL!
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Someday, you’re going to look back and laugh at this?” Many years ago, I heard Anthony Robbins suggest, “why not laugh right now?” And so that thought has become an automatic habit over the years for me. But I didn’t realize it until I was in an extreme situation...
In the middle of doing a book tour in China, my credit cards stopped working. Then all my debit cards stopped working. I had no cash left (in any currency). I couldn’t speak any Mandarin or Cantonese. And, I can’t see people’s gestures or communicate visually with my sight limitations. I walk into a bank to see who can help me, but nobody understand me one bit. I’m walking down the street, and instead of getting totally depressed, I start laughing! (I think to myself, “Oh my Goddess, this is going to be such a good story to tell on stage one day.”)
When I find myself in difficult circumstances, I (at least internally) laugh. Laughter is a great medicine, and an awesome foundation for solving problems. What a funny human attribute that seems so silly, yet is so powerful! :)
Transformative Trigger #2
Flip Frustration into Fascination
Taking a public transit to high-school every day was such a frustrating experience for me. There are hundreds of nuances I could talk about, but for the sake of brevity, let me mention one: Most people could see a streetcar coming from a block away and notice the street lights. Therefore, they could easy decide whether it was worth running to catch the streetcar or not. I, on the other hand, could not make that visual judgment, and would consequently miss many streetcars just by seconds, needing to wait at least 10 more minutes.
That may not sound like a lot, but consider how many times that would happen... how many missed opportunities with friends that would be... how many times that would cause me to be late for school. And how would that impact someone’s mind, day in and day out for six years?
Eventually, I learned to get fascinated by asking better questions. I wonder how the timing system works for our transit system? Why do some drivers choose to go through yellow lights when they are already immediately behind another streetcar? How will vehicles of the future operate, and could we eliminate this problem?
Transformative Trigger #3
Gain Confidence from Failure
Some people see my life as being full of successes. Others see it full of failures. It’s all perspective, I guess. The real wisdom I learned from network marketer, Dexter Yager, who said, “Real confidence is winning and losing, and winning and losing, and winning and losing enough...until you know the difference: that when you lose, you’re just stumbling forward to win again.”
If we’re going to enjoy the process, we must embrace failure. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to write an article that would go super-viral, without success. Ironically, by enjoying the failures, the failures become successful living. Here’s a great Ode to Failure video by my friend Tamara Levitt. Check it out by pressing play below.
Let’s love the world together...
Love,
[)anish /|hmed, blind visionary
No comments:
Post a Comment