Here is a quick story about behavioral change from Portia Nelson: This is a story about quitting a bad habit, which is also a story about becoming an active agent in life. In Chapter I, she is a passive victim of her circumstances. She has no control over her situation and no capacity to help herself. In Chapter II, she is beginning to recognize a pattern, and she is clearly… Read More »A Brief Parable About Change
Consider for a moment, the photograph above, taken from the deck of my apartment in late September. What do you see? Do you see a gorgeous, sunlit tree whose leaves are starting to change? Or do you see a city street, parked cars, and an orange traffic cone? Do you choose to appreciate the subtle beauty of the leaves’ colors as they transition from green to yellow to orange to… Read More »What do you choose to focus on?
This is a quick follow-up to last week’s article about the feedback loop that controls your life. At the end of that post, I emphasized the importance of choosing your behavior as a way of taking control of the emotion-thought-action feedback loop: The reason I gave is that directing your behavior is much easier than directing your thoughts, but there is also another reason: Actions speak louder than thoughts. You… Read More »Actions Speak Louder Than Thoughts
Our lives are controlled by three elements: emotions, thoughts, and actions. It’s easy to see how these elements matter. What we feel, what we think, and what we do are integral to who we are. What’s less obvious is how these elements interact. Your emotions, thoughts, and actions are connected to one another in a bi-directional feedback loop. Each element influences the others. Feeling a certain way causes you to… Read More »The Feedback Loop That Controls Your Life … And How To Master It