It's the normal routine in this household for my dog and I to venture out on early morning trails in the bush for a nature walk. There we take our time to wake up, enjoy the air, wipe the sleep from my eyes, say good bye to the last of the night time darkness, greet the morning sun, listen to the birds as they try to clear their throat to sing out that first morning song, and stumble across the path of the occasional black bear. By the time we see the black bears you can rest assured both I and my dog are very much awake!
It's during these morning walks, where I like to reflect on the day ahead, and in particular, take time to go through an inventory of the things in my life I'm grateful for. I have learned over time that how I start my day is my choice and totally in my control. I choose to start my days well, with an attitude of gratitude.
As I walked this morning, I reflected for a minute on a sign posted on a trail, "WARNING! BEARS HAVE BEEN SPOTTED ON THIS TRAIL. TALK LOUDLY AND CARRY A LOUD WHISTLE." I reflected on the sign and thought of how many other signs we have received throughout life warning us of potential hazards. As we drive, our roadsides are full of them. We grow up being taught to keep our hands off of hot stove jets. We are cautioned to wear seat belts in our vehicles. In our community, it's law that you must now wear a helmet to ride a bicycle. People warn us to not start a business because it could possibly fail. More blatant are the signs that come as verbalized messages, an extreme example being, "You're no good, you'll amount to nothing!" Or another, "You're crazy!" In the seconds that I looked at this "bear related" warning sign, I became very much aware of how many warnings we receive of potential danger lurking "just around the corner of our lives".
Years ago, I had the extreme pleasure of being very active in the horse industry. When schooling horses, a trainer is working with an animal that has the mental capability of a three year old human being. The training is based largely on repetitive exercises with positive reinforcement.
One challenge encountered by trainers in dealing with such a young mental capability is the horse's periodic tendency to want to anticipate the next command and act on that anticipation before being asked to do so. It's a vice the animal learns with good intentions, but in doing so, it teaches itself to anticipate the trainer instead of waiting and listening for the next command or cue. With the animal's desire to anticipate the trainer's upcoming command, comes an insecurity and errors which result in wrong maneuvers. With errors in maneuvers comes correction. With correction comes negative association, or experience. In the hands of a good trainer, this can be managed in such a way so as to build an animal's confidence, by gently, patiently, taking the animal backwards through the process and re-implanting the correct process. Handled wrong by a poor trainer and often an animal can lose self-confidence, where confusion or hostility in the animal is birthed.
When an animal begins to experience sufficient levels of negative reinforcement and loss of self-confidence, numerous vices and negative behaviors develop, including psychological withdrawal, cranky dispositions, and aggressive tendencies. All of this from originally trying to anticipate in advance what someone may or may not have asked of it. Keep in mind, this same behavioral principal applies to humans as well. Imagine how going through life anticipating potential life commands that might, or might not result in hazards could impact your day to day life, or the way you think? Imagine how this could leave you sitting on edge all the time, not sure how to respond?
What would be different for us, if we grew up in an environment where all our life signs where alerting us to pending success, blessing, joy, health, possibilities and abundance? In life, we arrive at the place where our life focus directs us towards. The direction we set for ourselves, the program we plug into our inner computer, is what we will become. Perhaps some of us, upon reading this article, may realize the need to re-create, or patiently take ourselves back through some processes, change some road signs, and re-implant or re-program the correct processes to a healthier personal life path.
Don't be surprised if in the next few days, a new sign appears on the side of my morning trail which reads, "WARNING TO ALL BEARS! HUMANS HAVE BEEN SPOTTED ON THESE TRAILS. THEY TALK LOUD, CARRY HORRIBLE WHISTLES, TASTE TERRIBLE, AND THE SURGEON GENERAL WOULD NOT CONSIDER THEM FIT FOR CONSUMPTION!"
Take time to consider the life "signs" you have created for yourself. Are you programming yourself for a life of negative reinforcement through hazard avoidance, or a life of positive reinforcement through successful living? Grab hold of the excellence life has to offer.
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James C. Tanner of Acai Berry Health Review, Understanding Horse Colic, and Anger Addiction is a retired entrepreneur, a former special investigator, and a published writer whose original and reprint articles, as well as written comments are enjoyed by 12.5 million readers monthly.
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