Check your brain mode
The same events, experiences, thoughts and people can provoke completely different responses from you depending on what “setting” your brain is in. Your brain can be in a responsive or reactive mode. When your brain is in responsive mode, you deal with things as they come up without getting rattled or bothered by them. When your brain is in reactive mode, it constantly scans the environment for potential threats, and you feel alarmed, inconvenienced and threatened even by the most benign experiences. This week let’s take time to notice which mode you find yourself in more often.
HOW-TO: As you go through your day, try to notice your initial response to events, people and challenges that you encounter. Ask yourself “Am I being responsive or reactive?” Notice which one of those modes you tend to resort to more often.
Ho! I’m so often on a reactive mode! I scan the environnement and my body, noticing every little things… I’m not hypochondriac, but I have big tendencies because I regularly feel anxious. Haaa! 😞 I’m working on it, but it’s a long, long road… Keep going! 😌
Thank you for sharing Bara! From the evolutionary standpoint it’s normal and related to survival, but it sure is taxing for the system. It’s a good thing that we can do something about it!
To quote from the book pg 55 “The reactive mode has become the new normal for many people, a chronic inner homelessness that has harmful effects on mental and physical health.” So we are not alone, I think I have spent most of my life in reactive mode, raised in a reactive environment and living in a reactive world. Thank you Olga for these weekly challenges and of course for all of your wonderful practices. They have a very positive affect and help to HEAL.