Think Before You React

I recently saw a post by Harry Spaight with the statement,  "Everything that happens is neutral. We choose how we are going to react."

Walter Bradford Cannon is credited with the reactions of Fight, Flight, or Freeze.  

1. Fight: This involves a response where the individual confronts the situation head-on and takes aggressive action to overcome or resolve it. This reaction can be physical, emotional, or mental.
2. Flight: This response involves avoiding or escaping the situation. This can be done through physical or mental means, such as fleeing from a threatening situation or mentally blocking out a difficult problem.
3. Freeze: This reaction involves becoming immobile or paralyzed in response to a situation. This can be a physical response, such as "deer in headlights," or a mental response, such as feeling stuck and unable to take action.

Which one do you usually fall into?   You more than likely take the same path for most situations that occur, but if you're not sure - there are evaluations like DISC that will give you a peek into your behavior.

Also, keep in mind that not all situations are the same.  For instance, the way you behave 99% of the time might change if someone was pointing a loaded gun at you.  Other factors that could play into the mix are temperature, financial situation, mood, and urgency - to name a few.  Because of this, there are innumerable combinations of reactions that could occur.

Hopefully, most of us will avoid the Flight and Freeze - but how we react within Fight is what what we're concerned with.

With all of the above considered - I want to go back to Harry's statement about everything being neutral.  So many things in life are out of our control.  Barring the factors mentioned above - wouldn't it be nice to be firmly in control of your reactions?
 
Let me give you an example of something from my childhood.  A family friend of ours had just purchased a new bass boat.  His son and I took it out one afternoon - and while zigging and zagging in it, the seat I was on snapped off at the base.  Had we been on a river that led out of the state - we would have cut ties and been gone!  Instead, we had to go back to the dock and explain why the brand-new boat was damaged.  We showed his dad what happened, and he loudly asked, "DID YOU BREAK IT ON PURPOSE?!?"  Scared to death, we answered no.  He shrugged and said, "OK."  I KNOW at that moment he probably wanted to strangle both of us and fill the air with a lovely variety of swear words - but he didn't.

I'm not suggesting you go completely zen with every situation you encounter.  But instead of throwing up your arms and screaming, "SERENITY NOW!!!" like Frank Constanza on Seinfeld - take a breath or twenty and think before you react.  Doing so - I think you'll get better and better at how you handle things.

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Until next time - have a DYNAMITE day!

Wes