Recently I noticed that when I considered following a new idea or inspiration about my business, some very familiar thinking would show up almost instantly. I also began to notice the same dynamic kicked-in when considering the holidays or thinking about other things in my life. What I noticed was a flood of very real familiar thinking, very specific to the topic at hand, would show up in my mental conversation. This immediate-believable-absolute-feeling-seemingly-truthful flavored thinking showed up almost on que to tell me the truth about how life works.
As I noticed this dynamic happening more and more, these thought patterns occurred to me as my First Responders. Just like emergency first responders that show up on the scene to support us in times of need, these familiar thinking thought patterns show up on the scene to offer me a helpful dose of my reality. Something smelled fishy; my mental 1st Responders had a bias toward limitation. I found this interesting too!
In the game of life, if you look around, the nature of life is synonymous with potential and possibility. How could something live in my head, be so familiar, feel so definitive, and not be true about life? In understanding more about our human operating system, we live in a world of thought and then see it as real, so this is where my curiosity kicked in again. If my First Responders are not telling me the absolute truth about life, what else is there to see to around the topic I’m looking at? So, it occurred to me to consider there are holes in their stories and to keep my eyes and ears open to seeing something fresh. Guess what? New fresh possibilities are coming to me and it can work the same for you.
Here are some bullet points to raise your awareness to your First Responders:
- 1st Responders are not informing you about how life works. It’s informing you of how you believe it works.
- 1st Responders are reflecting your habits of thinking.
- 1st Responders are not informing you of what’s possible for your in life.
- 1st Responders are a mirror to your current mood. High mood, things look possible. Low mood, things look bleak.
- 1st Responders look real and feel true. Remember, this is all happening in your mind, not in life at the moment. For example, a busted water pipe in the mind is very different than a busted water pipe in front of you. The one in front of you is really happening and calling for your immediate attention. The other only exists in the mind but it still feels real.
- You may always have the same 1st Responders show up on the scene for you, whether they’re historic or futuristic, remember they are still not occurring now.
This is all good news. Why? Because we all get a chance to see more of our humanity as just that, an aspect of being human. Not a problem that needs to be overcome, just something to be aware of. The more you see the role of thought in the moment, the more relaxed you effortlessly become. Get curious. There’s always more to be seen.