Based on how many human beings make decisions, the answer is a very illuminating, NO. Really take a moment to think about how you choose to live and consider the following thought experiment...
RATS
Consider keeping a rat in a cage and starving it of food. Once it is really really hungry, we move it from the cage into a box with three pipes. At the end of pipe 2 we put a piece of cheese. The rat will of course immediately sniff for the cheese and choose to run down pipe 2. We allow it to finish eating, remove it from the pipe, put it back into the cage, and starve it once again. Once it is craving food, we put it back into the pipes, place the cheese in pipe 2, and wait for the rat to run down pipe 2 to eat the cheese. We can repeat this over and over until the rat is conditioned to choose pipe 2. Thirty trials later, we put the rat into the pipe system, and it immediately runs down pipe 2. However, we have moved the cheese to pipe 3. The rat will notice the cheese is not in part 2, run back through pipe 2, sniff around, and run through pipe 3. The rat will be rewarded for its ability to notice that a mistake has been made, its ability to discover a new possibility.
HUMANITY
Now, consider your own being or that of someone you care about. You don't leave the house for several days, you are starved of love and affection in the same way the rat was starved of food. You leave the house and have three roads to choose from. At the end of road 2 you see a close friend who you feel will support you. You run down road 2 and feel love and affection like you have not felt in days. You feel fulfilled and so enjoy your time with this individual, but there is work to do... You must return home.
"You make me feel special," you say to your loved one, "will you be here when I come back?"
The individual agrees to wait and you return home...
Work keeps you busy for days and you aren't able to return to the intersection for days. When you do, you once again feel starved of love and affection. You rush down road 2 and are overjoyed to see your friend kept their promise. You feel love and affection like you have not felt in days... "You complete me, I need to know you will be here for me when I return." They agree and you go home confident you will see your friend soon.
Unfortunately, work keeps you busy for several more days. You feel isolated, alone, and unloved, craving the affection of another... Eventually, you make it back to the intersection and find at the end of road 2 that your friend has kept their promise! "Look baby, I don't think I can live without you. I think this is it, I think we are meant to be together forever... Never leave, never change from the person who is always here..." Your loved one agrees that they will always be there and look forward to your return...
You head home and get back to work. Once more, work keeps you so busy that by the time you are back at the intersection, you feel alone and craving affection. You hurry down road 2 desperate for your loved one... but they are nowhere to be found. "What's going on... they said they would be here. They promised! I can't live without them!" You begin to cry and question yourself as you run up and down road 2 looking for your loved one. Meanwhile, he or she is now at the end of road 3. Maybe they have simply physically moved, but they may have experienced something new. They may be a whole new person and this person spends time at the end of road 3...
The reason behind your loved one's shift does not matter to you. You are too busy running up and down road 2 horribly depressed that you have lost the only person who has made you feel whole, the only person who has shown you affection in months...
THE POINT: WHAT IS AT STAKE
This thought experiment reveals something crucial about ourselves. Both rats and humans will search for what they want or need. If a rat makes a mistake in its search, it will change its method over and over until it is successful. A rat will do WHAT WORKS. However, human beings will typically do WHAT IS RIGHT based on past beliefs. To put it differently, a human being does what has gotten results.
Most people know the quote "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results." I have heard it argued that this is really the definition of fear. This fear of change goes along with our addiction to "being right". Our addiction to being right can often keep us alive, but it does not allow us to grow. It does not bring about change.
To truly prosper in our lives we must learn to challenge ourselves and have the courage to do what works, not what has worked.
Sincerely,
Anthony
This weekend I attended a four day long growth seminar where I really got in touch with many aspects of how and why I do the things I do. I grew closer to a group of strangers over several days than I have with loved ones over several years... I so appreciate those of you who reached out to me about my commitment to post every day, making sure that I was fine. I was encouraged to not do anything but experience the weekend and focus on the lessons. I am glad I did, it definitely paid off. However, I am still committed to 100 posts in 100 days. I will just have to do some double time this week :).
Thank you for reading. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.
The above photo was taken from heartspm.com
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