I am just fascinated with the way we as humans react. Literally, as weird as it may sound, we are “meaning making meaning machines.” We are always giving meaning to everything that happens around us, I mean EVERYTHING. If someone doesn’t call when we think they should, we are automatically thinking, “they don’t love us” or don’t like us. We start putting ideas in our heads, that most of the time have nothing to do with reality.
With every choice we make, we are creating meaning to everything around us. And what do we do when we give a meaning that it is not of our preference? (We do this a lot). We REACT, oh my do we ever react. We let our meaning control our minds, our mood, and at the end of the day, we let it control us instead of the other way around.
As soon as I got to work yesterday, everything seemed different; the energy was heavy, not as pleasant as always; so of course, what did I do? I reacted; it only made things worse. But, why did I react? Because instead of sitting down in a loving manner, to find out what the issue was, so I can do something about it and really enjoy the rest of the day like I always do. OH NO!!! I created meaning in my head, blaming myself, “I am not doing my job right. I am not needed anymore. I am being judged.”I mean the list can just go on and on.
What did I get out of it? Nothing, instead I got a day of frustration, tears, and a bunch of heartaches. When in reality it had nothing to do with me. If only I would have asked one simple question of my employer, who typically gives me a hug and offers me my morning coffee, “Let’s sit down and see what’s really going on.”
It would have made a HUGE difference. Unfortunately, we go on and on and allow our minds to create a meaning that has PROBABLY nothing to do with reality or us. I wrote about it in my journal and promised myself to breath a couple of times. To think before I react, and find out first what’s really going on with myself and others.
I invite you to be mindful of your thoughts, and the meaning that you are giving to everything around you; it is fascinating once we start paying attention. We, as humans, are literally meaning-making machines. Let’s create rich, meaningful relationships in everything we do.
Martha Bass
