Are you stuck in your own never ending repeat?
Posted on 13th November 2024 at 07:57
If you have any online account – whether Amazon or Ebay, Netflix or iplayer – you’ll have noticed the continual suggestions of things you may be interested in. While the odd “wild card” may be thrown in, most of the suggestions are based on what you’ve previously shown interest in, making the underlying assumption very clear. You’ll only be interested in what you’ve bought – or watched – in the past.
No judgement is made about your choices – “Why on earth did they choose that?!?” – just the assumption that you’ll want the same – or something similar – again. And, so, the same things keep coming up again and again. Which is great if you still want exactly the same things – not to mention saving time in the process – but not so helpful when you decide you’d like something different.
But this doesn’t only happen online, you’ll probably have noticed it yourself at some time or other.
Perhaps, when you’re looking for a new car and suddenly start seeing that make, model and colour everywhere. “Where on earth are they all coming from?!?” Or you’re interested in a particular topic or hobby and, bingo, everyone you come across seems to be too.
Then there are all those day to day things in life. How the people, places and events you come across all seem to be the same.
Perhaps it’s that everyone seems to be in a hurry or less than polite (!). Or there never seem to be any parking spaces where you go or your favourite products in the weekly supermarket shop aren’t there. Again.
And it applies the other way too. When everyone seems relaxed, polite and customer focussed (!) and life flows very easily for you.
It doesn’t matter that other people may be having a very different experience to you at exactly the same time. You’ll have your own unique experience of whatever it is, whether a little or a lot.
So, what’s going on?
Well, just like all our favourite – or not (!) – online accounts, whatever we pay attention to – and focus on – grows. And, so, we see more of it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a new car or what’s going on in our day to day lives. It applies across the board. What we focus on AND expect to see is what we see AND how we experience in our lives. It’s an exact match and, once again, done without any kind of judgement or doubt. “Is this what you really want?!?”
We’re sure you can see where we’re going with this. The million dollar question we’re about to ask (!).
When you look at your life and how you’ve been experiencing it, are you happy with the channel you’ve chosen? Does it make you happy and help your life flow more smoothly?
If the answer to any of that is “No” – whether overall or to a specific part of your life – then it may be time to take the hint. To change the channel and focus on what you do desire, rather than defaulting to the one you’ve always tuned to or everyone else seems to be following.
And, yes, the new channel can feel rather strange to start with. Require a little practice remembering to tune in to it, rather than defaulting to the old one; but it quickly becomes your new preferred channel.
Before we close, one final thought for today. Remember that knowledge is power. Never let the Little Monster in your Head beat you up for any less than optimal (!) choices you may have made in the past. The past is gone and can’t be changed. The important thing is that you’ve noticed that something doesn’t work for you now and decided to choose a different channel. After all, you can’t do anything about it until you’ve become aware of it, can you?
As always, the choice is yours.
Photography by unknown author
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