The Utility Room in my Mind
I have a lot in common with my dogs. We both bark at doorbells.
When the doorbell rings, my three Dachsunds go off like an orchestra out of tune. I yell at them and send them to the utility room. They don’t like it in there. But, their behavior continues every time the doorbell rings.
They don’t have the ability to reflect on their behavior and ask themselves, “How’s that barking working out for you? Is it getting you what you want? What is it about you that makes you bark every time you hear a doorbell.” Their reactions are programmed into them. Just like yours and mine.
But, we have a superpower that the dogs don’t have - the ability to think about the way we think. Think about that. We can step out of ourselves and examine our thought processes in an objective way if we choose to do so. We can read the code that’s programming our behavior.
Unfortunately, it’s a superpower that we don’t choose to use as much as we should. We just react to doorbells and confine ourselves to our own dark utility rooms.
Most of my doorbells these days are in the political world. My wife can tell you how I can start “barking” while watching the news. I should know better than to spend so much time watching the news every night. But, it’s an attractive nuisance. I go off on hateful rants and opinions while confining myself to the utility room in my mind. It’s a dark and unhappy place in there. I really want to spend less time in there.
What are your doorbells?