WE RESPOND TO OUR FEELINGS

Discover your Inner Child

Have there been times when you reacted to a situation feeling very strongly about it? Has there ever been a time when those around felt that your reaction was disproportional to the scene and even you could not understand why and how it bothered you so much? 

All of us at one point or another have encountered such incidents, triggers which may seem so small or trivial to others around, however, the impact they have on us is far from trivial. This may be a candy bar making a 40-year-old happy beyond the usual level, or a simple coffee spill on my dress, making me cry. 

Know that each situation, makes us feel a certain way. 

Think about it. All our actions are guided by how we feel about something. 

You prefer talking to someone because you feel welcome around them. 

You would rather go shopping online than offline because you feel it saves more time and money.

In reality, you automatically act in a situation depending on the feeling it triggers within you. 

In fact, our mind automatically stores and categorizes each experience from the time we were conceived, till the present day as similar based on how we feel about them - painful or pleasurable. 

And this is unique to each individual, given we all have our own values, thoughts, unique social environments, experiences, etc. Hence, the same situation may trigger different feelings for different people.

So if in your subjective perception, a current situation is exactly the same as one that was 12 years back, it will trigger the same feelings as then and you will unconsciously respond in the same manner as 12 years back. 

Now, people evolve and develop through life and 12 years (as in the above example) is a long time. If you in the present day, respond like before, it will automatically be out of proportion to the current situation. 

Thus, it would be safe to say that we respond to a feeling that gets triggered within us and not to a situation per se. 

And as for the above example, the incident from 12 years back becomes your inner child. 

Stay tuned to our series on decoding what we call an Inner Child.