A Thought Exercise – according to Me, since I just made it up – is when I do any random external behavior that triggers an internal response in My SB: If You repeat the external behavior as I describe here, DR, it should trigger a corresponding AKA similar internal response in Your Own SB. That’s My theory, anyways.
In the silverware drawer of My kitchen, I have one of those organizational things that You put the silverware in – a spot for the knives, forks, spoons, etc. But also – for Me, personally – I have more sub-categories of this organization: the steak knives go in this spot, while the butter knives go over here. The big forks & the small forks – they technically go in the same spot, but they don’t go the same way – the tines of the big forks face the top while the tines of the smaller forks face the bottom. And so forth and so on.
Now: I toss the ball in Your court, DR.
Go to the kitchen where You live. Maybe You live alone, maybe with Your Wife & Kids, or a Roommate, or Your Sister… it’s irrelevant Who specifically.
Open the silverware drawer.
Take the forks out of their dedicated spot, and switch the location of these forks with any other utensils ‘spot’ – don’t make it too drastic, though. It’s better if You just do a side-by-side right-next-to switch.
Okay! So let’s say I’ve swapped the butter knives with the steak knives. [N: You do Your Own switch with whatev] Now, this is KEY:
Close the drawer & walk away.
If You stare at the new organization too long, TECH will get wise & You’ll spoil the experiment. Walk away, and go about Your business, whatever You were doing right before You did this – watching TV, playing a video game, drinking a cup of coffee while mentally preparing to start Your work day, whatev – and if You weren’t doing something arleady that You can go back to? Start doing something right now: go for a walk, go outside to have a smoke or pick up the dog poop in the backyard because You know the Gardeners are coming today, go get the mail from the mailbox, etc. etc.
Here’s what I want You to pay attention to, DR. [N: technically, this instruction is for Your SB. TECH is busily scribbling mental Notes right now, as We speak]
The “going back to what I was doing” or “starting something New” is how My SB gets distracted. I juggle a lot of balls, constantly – like a Good Clown – so it’s easy to “forget what I came into this room for.” And what We just did is pretty low on the radar, so it’s easy to “forget.”
And Life goes on, I’m doing this or that, TECH is busily doing My To-Do’s, whatever My calendar says I should be doing for the day.
. . .
Later – when You randomly open the silverware drawer, probably at dinnertime, or lunchtime, or whenever You got hungry & went to the kitchen for a snack, DR – pay attention to how You feel in that exact moment.
Whatever You feel is Your SB. This variance – something in My external environment that is variant/different to all of the Historical AKA previously acquired data in the “silverware” File – is gonna ping Your SB.
The goal here is to 1) identify the feeling. 2) notice what external event caused the pinging in Your SB. 3) track the acquired data on an ongoing basis. [N: meaning, every time You return to the silverware drawer & visually open it, TECH is adding the data of every time You execute this behavior to the mental Files]
All of these are TECH functions, in terms of “filing, managing, & organizing” data.
Don’t immediately try to diagnose the Culprit – “oh, this is TECH!” -or- “this is PASSION!” because that’s a later class. Baby steps, DR. Baby steps.
Feelings first. Evaluation of the feelings, later.
Good Luck.
/CR