{"id":229,"date":"2023-05-04T12:11:55","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T11:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pcrest.com\/blog\/?p=229"},"modified":"2023-05-04T12:11:57","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T11:11:57","slug":"rewiring-circuits-in-my-super-secret-laboratory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/04\/rewiring-circuits-in-my-super-secret-laboratory\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewiring Circuits in My Super Secret Laboratory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

When we feel like someone is trolling us, pushing our buttons, or getting under our skin, we generally stop responding and start reacting. When that happens, we have let go of metacognition <\/em>(awareness of one\u2019s own thinking and processing) and even meta-awareness<\/em> (having a sense of oneself). There\u2019s a reason that rage is referred to as \u201cblind\u201d, after all. When we feel provoked and angry, it’s is so easy to say (or do) things we\u2019ll regret later. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best thing we can do when we feel we\u2019re under emotional attack is short out the input-reaction circuit. <\/strong>We can refuse to react to negative input by walking away or remaining silent. Or even putting our fingers in our ears and shouting \u201cLALALALALA!\u201d Those are all effective\u2014if temporary\u2014ways to keep ourselves from reacting negatively; doing any of them keeps Input X from leading to Reaction Y. The intent behind Input X is far less important than how we choose<\/strong> to act. Once we truly realize Input X doesn\u2019t have<\/em><\/strong> to lead to Reaction Y, we\u2019re free to rewire that circuit any way we like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re can be in control of how it works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how I\u2019m rewiring that circuit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it might look like I\u2019m receiving negative input when someone is provoking me, what I\u2019m really<\/strong> doing is working ON myself, in my Super Secret Growth and Improvement Laboratory (Shhh!). This is where things happen<\/strong>\u2026it\u2019s where I go to do the serious work on myself. And when I\u2019ve finished an upgrade, securing everything back in place, this is where I test the improvements I\u2019ve made and make sure that things are working as they should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when that jerk of a neighbor who insists on sharing random criticism does their thing, I can see and hear them, but I\u2019m really in the lab. Their words will help me test my metacognitive awareness and rational response systems! No matter the origin of the negative input, whether it’s a familiar nemesis (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), random stranger, passive-aggressive relative, etc., it\u2019s all worth its weight in gold when I\u2019m working on developing things like patience <\/em>and equanimity<\/em>. And maintaining my sense of proportion and humor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can build your own Super Secret Growth and Improvement Laboratory. Then when your buttons are being pushed, remember that this is exactly<\/strong> the kind of input you\u2019ve been waiting for, ever since you installed your new Unwillingness to Respond in Anger 2.0<\/strong> module<\/strong>. Engage that new system and see how it works!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we feel like someone is trolling us, pushing our buttons, or getting under our skin, we generally stop responding and start reacting. When that happens, we have let go…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33,27,3,2],"tags":[24,14],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attitude","category-making-choices","category-maximizing-growth","category-self-growth-tips","tag-improvement","tag-strategies","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/lab.jpg?fit=900%2C601&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}