Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / PixelsAway
When a child reaches for a red-hot burner on the oven, it singes his hand. As he screams in pain, a parent comes running and says, “I’ve told you a million times that’s hot! Do not touch!” For the first time in all those scolding lectures, the child finally figures out what he had been told all those years. Indeed, it was hot and when he touched it … it definitely hurt. It may happen again later, just as a “convincer,” but chances are good he will at least hesitate in the future, associating the pain with the lesson; sheer repetition and actual experience will enforce caution.
Whether we realize it or not, that same repetitive notion accumulates thought patterns in us and drives those same types of signals in our head. If we heed the lessons, we impart on a better—usually safer—life. Soon the lesson just becomes part of our general thinking:
I had better not invest money with Marc. Last time I got ripped off when his “hunch” was no good. I can’t confide in Walter. He always tells people what I say even when I ask him not to. My wife always overreacts about “security” when I take a look at another job. Next time I won’t say a word unless I get an actual offer.