[To listen to an audio version of this blog, please click here: http://bit.ly/2Ael1ih]

This is a quickie - but not for everyone. It's just for those of us who 'talk' to objects! My head is so often in the clouds that I quite frequently don't look where I'm going. The result is that I get 'assaulted' by door handles, 'evil' chairs, and just about any obstruction that is hell-bent to doing harm to my body.

My reaction is to treat the inanimate object as if it 'did' this to me!!! And as if it did it to me deliberately! Trust me, this does not lead to a positive mindset!

Yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds... but I'm not alone, am I? Do you get cross with inanimate objects? Do you talk to them as if they deliberately hurt you? Hey, do you go further and swear at them and punish them like Basil Fawlty?

Dare I say it, "Do you have a naughty computer?"

If your answer is 'Yes!' to any or all of these, I'm developing a new strategy that is lowering my stress and raising my levels of joy! Would you like to hear more?

The strategy involves pinching a saying from Jim Steele and using it out of context. When I worked alongside Jim, years ago, I was tickled by his use of the phrase,

"Now here's a thing..."

Jim used this to great effect to draw people's attention, almost hypnotically, towards a key learning point in our workshops.

Well, there's something I need to learn! This is that inanimate objects don't have personalities and they are most certainly not out to get me!

May I Interrupt Myself?

When we practice an unhelpful pattern in our lives, it only gets stronger. These kinds of patterns need to be broken... interrupted. If you are not in the habit of ascribing malicious intent to inanimate objects, this part of the blog will still be relevant because any pattern that doesn't serve you must be broken.

Here's what I do.

I interrupt my pattern.

Every time I'm 'attacked' by evil door-handles, or spitefully delayed by my 'stupid' computer, I say to myself, "Now here's a thing..."

By calling each object a 'thing' - I've managed to get some perspective, some self-control, AND to stop losing my temper quite so much.

It might just work for you too!

Now there's a thing!

Lex

A Moodscope member