Between Stimulus and Response
In his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen R. Covey has this phrase, “Between stimulus and response is our greatest power – the freedom to choose.” Today I would like to write my thoughts about what this means.
Every day each of us has a myriad of different stimuli that occurs. The shower is too hot, too cold, our hair is not combing well, or is, our breakfast is too this or that or the other, our car won’t start, or does. Good or bad, everything we do or everything that happens is some sort of stimulus or another. Fact is, what you are reading right this very minute is stimulus.
Like it or not we cannot ignore, overt or delete it from our lives. We may, however, respond. In fact that is the only thing that we can do. Every response is evidence of the choice we took as a result of the stimulus.
The water was too cold, we flinched and pulled back our hand, or maybe we chose to leave that hand in the cold water and reached for the hot water knob with the other hand to turn it up. All were choices to respond to the simple stimulus of the water being too cold.
Each minute of every day is filled with the same opportunities to choose how we will respond to the stimuli that occur. Right now you can choose to read on, stop reading, you can choose to believe what you are reading, or disbelieve what you are reading. You can smile you can frown; you can laugh or even cry. But the simple truth still exists – you have a choice how you will respond; followed by another and another choice, and so goes life.
Some people choose to respond to certain stimuli in very disproportionate ways; meaning that the response is either way too big or way too small in proportion to the stimulus. Good examples of this would be a person not showing any emotion when their dearest loved one passes away, or a person laughing uncontrollably at something that was extremely insignificant.
Some people choose inappropriate ways to respond. Others try avoiding responding all together; failing to realize that avoiding is a choice and therefore a response. In fact there are many different ways in which people choose to respond. Some are positive, some are negative, some productive, some destructive, some valuable, some unnecessary, some kind, some mean, some fun, some boring, some . . . you get the picture.
We each have the same ability too. There is not a single person that I can think of who is exempt. Take a moment and think about it. Can you think of anyone who is exempt?
There may be some who are limited in the amount of options they have in their responses but nevertheless they have the freedom to make choices and therefore responses. Take a baby for instance; a baby can’t use the get-up-and-walk-away response because of physical inability but we have each heard the cry-at-the-top-of-your-lungs response plenty of times.
Tomorrow I will explore 7 different kinds of responses that are used.
 Your assignment today is to get a piece of paper and write a list of the different stimuli that have happened in your last hour. This is how I would like you to do it. Divide the paper into three columns. At the top of column one write, “Stimulus”, here you will write what the stimulus was. In column two write, “Choice”, here you will write what choice you made for that given stimulus. Then in column three write, “Alternatives” here you will write down at least two different choices you could have made instead of the one you made. Notice in column three how many different alternatives you can come up with. We will talk about that later. Go do you assignment. |
To your creations,
Michael Claridge
Make a Choice, a Promise, a Contract
Today I’d like to explain why I chose to write the eternal moment of NOW yesterday. There is a reason and if you haven’t figured it out yet I’d like to explain.
On the right column of this article there is a sentence that says, “Some believe they are powerless to control what happens in their lives, but there are a select few called Creators who powerfully create the lives they desire.” You see those who believe that they have no control over their lives believe that because they don’t understand the true principles that I am going to be teaching on CreatorsCreate.com
Let me prove it. Right now I want you to giggle. Yep, just let off a little jitter a little giggle. Was that there a minute ago? Really now, did that giggle exist before you had read the following words? No, it didn’t until the moment you created it, and you created it in the eternal moment of NOW.
I know you probably thinking that I am over simplifying all this, but the truth is that Every great creator has principles and practices that they employ to create the life they desire to create. They may not have pigeon holed, or earmarked what they do or have analyzed what they do with as much scrutiny as this I will on this blog, but nevertheless they do know how and they do whatever it takes to bring into existence the creations that they have created, and right NOW are working tirelessly to bring into existence many more beautiful creations.
They have practiced the skills necessary to create; they have disciplined themselves and make appropriate and powerful choices that make them masters of creativity. They create the lives they desire to create.
They don’t go around reacting to every stimulus as if their freedom of choice has been removed from them. They don’t blame others for failures or mistakes. They simply ask the question, “What is it that I desire to create?” And then they set out to create it. They are creators.
During World War II in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz a man named Viktor Frankl made some very important observations. In this horrible death camp where he spent over three years and tragically lost his wife, Viktor Frankl discovered a powerful secret about man. In the helpless and distressed lives of his fellow prisoners Victor Frankl found the greatness of man. He found that there was something powerful in man.
It is ironic that he found the greatness of mankind in a place famous for cruelty and evil. A place where one people set out to exterminate another by the most inhumane atrocities known to man. He found the single most valuable freedom that man possess and can never be taken away from him without his consent: free will.
Victor Frankl wrote:
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to, those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.”
Viktor Frankl found the greatest glory of mankind; in fact the greatest endowment of mankind is man’s ability to choose; man’s free will. He goes on to clarify this idea:
“In the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him-mentally and spiritually.”
It is this very freedom of choice that allows each of us the ability, and even the freedom to create what we will. We all have the freedom to choose, and it is with that choice where we can choose to create the life we desire to create. We can choose to be creators.
| Today, I want you to write a contract with yourself.Sit down with a piece of paper and write out a promise to yourself. Write that today you make a choice to be the creator of your life. That you refuse to let others, and other factors be in control of your life. Today you are the Captain of your life. Today you take control and you are a CREATOR!Write it, sign it. Done. |
To your creations,
Michael Claridge
You Are Your Own Creation
First Things First
The first thing I want to do is define the word “Create.” Who better to do that then Webster himself.
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Merriam – Webster Dictionary |
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Main Entry: 1cre·ate |
To bring into existence.That’s it. Pretty simple really. The act of creation is to bring into existence that which was not there before. Let me explain. One day I was surfing the Internet and came across a personal web page of some internationally renowned speaker. I have searched for that same site since and cannot find it. I’m sorry that I don’t have more specific information to give you.On the site he had some downloadable snippets of some of his speeches. I downloaded and listened to many that day, but one caught my particular attention. It went something like this:(I paraphrase because I don’t have the actual)
“Have you ever seen a dog give birth to a cat? Have you ever seen an elephant give birth to a parakeet?
“God created the Heavens and the Earth and everything that in them are. And He created man in His own image. We are created in Gods image. God is a creator. We are created in His image. We are creators.”
That was pretty profound. We are all creators. Creators of what? Creators of our own lives. In fact what I am about to say I want you to never forget – YOU CANNOT NOT CREATE!
Stop and think about it. Everything you do is a creation. Everything!
With that in mind think about it. YOU CANNOT NOT CREATE! Everything you do is to bring into existence something that was not there before. Take it to its rudimentary form – the next breath you take did not exist until you created it. The thought that you are thinking did not exist until you brought it into existence. When you really think about it, everything that you do is to create.
That being the case then understand this next truth. You are the creator of your life. Believe it or not, you have been creating you from the first breath you drew as a baby. Every experience you have had since that first breath has been yours and only yours to do with as you wished. Nobody forced you to act, or react, or think the way you do. Indeed, you have had free will since that very first breath.
You are where you are, doing what you do, and thinking what you think, and being what you are because you created it that way. Whether you are happy or unhappy, rich or poor, fat or thin, successful or unsuccessful, you made it that way.
| Your assignment today is to do a simple exercise. Walk outside and yell at the top of your lungs, “Hello world, I’m (say your name) and I’m here to create the greatest day I’ve ever had!” Then go out and do it. At the end of the day get out a piece of paper, a journal, anything and write about what you created. How did it feel? What was different about it? Did you notice anything new? |
Literally, you are your own creator.
To your creations,
Michael Claridge
