Who can relate? Imagine the circumstance where you run into Giant Eagle for some groceries, and after returning to the parking lot, you discover police and a tow truck surrounding your car. You come to find out that someone wasn’t paying attention, ran a stop sign, and hit your rear bumper. How would you feel? What emotions would you have?
We’re going to give you two different examples of a couple typical reactions after this type of circumstance.
Kelsey’s first reaction was “Thank goodness I wasn’t in the car, I coulda got hurt!” Then she’s a bit annoyed because realized she may be late for work. She calls her work just to let them know she may be late. She’s also curious as to whether she will have to pay her deductible to have the bumper fixed, and wonders if there’s any other damage to the vehicle so those damages can be addresses as well. Ultimately, she is grateful she wasn’t in the car when this person hit the vehicle, and though she doesn’t find it fun to have her car in the garage, it’s fixed in a couple days and life goes on as usual.
Charlie reacted a bit differently than Kelsey. He’s very upset. his first reaction is “why me? This type of thins happens to me all of the time when am I ever gonna catch a break?”
What’s different about these two scenarios? The same event occurred, but the emotions and reactions of these two folks were dramatically different. The accident didn’t cause Charlie to feel victimized, then quite angry – his beliefs and thoughts about the accident did. Here’s the key concept. Adversity comes to all of us. Sometimes in disproportionate amounts to some folds more than others. BUT, our Beliefs and Thoughts are what determines the Consequences, not the Adversity.
In this case, Charlie THOUGHT “why does this type of thing always happen to me?” He believed he was the victim. This let him to be very upset at the other person that made a mistake.
Now, this model can also apply to how we feel physically. Many times the THOUGHTS that we have can hinder us physically as well, especially during the recovery process.
