What's Lurking Inside?
Thanksgiving is nine days away, and in related news, it’s Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. Was it started by a refrigerator company? Maybe – Whirlpool did some marketing about it in the 1990’s. When it started going mainstream, the 15th of November is the date that was attached to it, so today it is! Perfect timing, since Thanksgiving, with its overload of leftovers screaming for space in the icebox, is only nine days away.
It’s easy to forget what’s in the fridge, so having a day that reminds you to root around in there and throw out things that might kill you is a good thing. It can also be easy to forget cleaning out other aspects of your life – aspects that seem benign and can actually be harmful to your mental as well as physical wellbeing. For example, I was recently shocked to discover that people who tailgate make me angry.
OK, so the tailgaiting thing wasn’t a discovery – what was the discovery was that the anger was instantaneous and automatic. Yes, this is what I teach, and also what I still need to learn!
Someone was behind me on the interstate and could easily have chosen to pass. Instead, the driver chose to tailgate aggressively, pulling up very close, backing off a little bit, and repeating the cycle over and over again. The instant, white-hot anger I felt was familiar, because it had been my automatic reaction for yearsandyearsandyears. It was a pattern my brain was familiar with, and a pattern I’d never before stopped to observe. Was the driver an idiot? Maybe – they sure were acting like one. Was there anything I could do to change their behavior? No. Was my anger hurting them? No. Me? Yes.
Kind of like removing the gooey, unidentifiable produce bags from the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, I realized that there was hazardous waste inside my brain that needed to be removed. Once identified, it became easy to break the pattern of being angry at tailgaters, and it makes for a much better driving experience. There might be patterns your brain is running that could use examining and maybe eliminating, too. The Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites podcast is designed to help you with the clean-up:
Need to clean out a grudge? There’s a Tiny Bite for that!
To-do list need cleaning out? There’s a Tiny Bite for that!
Voice inside your head need cleaning out? There’s a Tiny Bite for that!
The Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites podcast is the world's second-shortest podcast, and every episode shares a gamebraining tool to help you deal with whatever life throws at you. What is “gamebraining?” A word I made up to describe the process of having fun while reprogramming your brain’s patterns to ones that serve your mental wellbeing, success and happiness.
Got ninety seconds? There's a new Tiny Bite podcast waiting for you every day at the Center for Workplace Happiness website and wherever you listen to podcasts. If you like it, please subscribe and share it with your friends.
As for what’s in the refrigerator we’ll both be cleaning out today…I won’t tell if you won’t! :)
Wags, Sandy Weaver, Program Director, Center for Workplace Happiness
PS...looking for something different to give your clients, teammates or family members this year? Check out the personal development courses and books available through the Center for Workplace Happiness. Need a bunch? Enjoy generous bulk discounts!
