Thursday, April 18, 2013

Become Less Reactive and More Responsive

In life, we have essentially two psychological modes that we are in most of the time: reactive and responsive. The reactive mode is the one that feels stressful. In it, we feel pressured and are quick to judge. We lose perspective and take things personally. We're annoyed, bothered, and frustrated.

Needless to say, our judgment and decision making capacity is severely impaired when we are in a reactive state of mind. We make quick decisions that we often regret. We annoy other people and tend to bring out the worst in them. When an opportunity knocks, we are usually too overwhelmed or frustrated to see it. If we do see it, we're usually overly critical and negative.

The responsive mode, on the other hand, is our most relaxed state of mind. Being responsive suggests that we have our bearings. We see the bigger picture and take things less personally. Rather than being rigid and stubborn, we are flexible and calm. In the responsive mode, we are at our best. We bring out the best in others and solve problems gracefully. When an opportunity comes our way, our mind is open. We are receptive to new ideas.

Once you are aware of these two drastically different modes of being. You will begin to notice which one you are in. You'll also notice the predictability of your behavior and feelings when you are in each mode. You'll observe yourself being irrational and negative in your reactive mode and calm and wise in your responsive state of mind.

Being reactive is like making decisions without thinking. It can cause failure or worsen the event if the decision is not correct.

I remember the story of the father hit the hand of his five years old son with a wrench. The child was hit because his father got mad when his son wrote something on his car. His father didn’t want his sons’ finger to be broken but it’s too late. After that he saw the word “I Love You Dad” written on his car. His son asks his father gently “when will my finger grow back.”

From that story lets make it being responsive. When the father see his sons scratch his car instead of making himself angry he, try to think of a solutions to fix it relax and calm. We know that a five years old child don’t know what they did after. The boy  just wanted  to say “I love you” to his dad. The boy don’t mean bad thing at all. It happen to people who don’t know how to act responsive.

To be responsive is being on our most relaxed state of mind. To see bigger picture and take things less personally, rather than being rigid and stubborn we are flexible and calm. Seeing bigger picture of you can able you to see it more clearly. Having a clear vision can send you a relaxed state of mind, good mode and happy feelings.

A responsive mind is fertile ground of success. When your mind is clear and relaxed, you pave an open channel for abundance and joy. There is a direct and clear relationship between how much time you spend in a responsive state of mind and your own level of success. The more you are able to stay out of reactivity, the more opportunities will present themselves. Beginning right now, use the power of responsiveness to create your own success.

Source:


No comments:

Post a Comment