Setbacks are different than failure but our primitive brain does not differentiate and can pour out the fear drugs in a heartbeat. I had a setback yesterday in the late afternoon at the end of a very productive and rewarding day. The email caused an instantaneous sinking of my heart felt viscerally in my body. The emotional response was way out of proportion to the nature of the setback. The Happy Heart Process has quickly restored my energy.
The incident reminded me of a lesson I learned from our 6 year old grandson. We were playing Chutes and Ladders and I noticed that his energy was equally high when he slid down the long chute from the top almost back to the starting point as it was when he got to up the big ladder which accomplished the reverse. I wondered if an adult had coached him and learned it was not the case. In subsequently observing his playing I noticed that when he came down the long chute his excitement came from his stated observation that he only need to roll a four in order to get to the square on the board that would take him back up the long ladder. I noticed also the variety of lengths of the chutes and ladders and the fact that no chute took him back to the starting point.
The parallels to life are obvious when using your thinking brain to notice them. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have the immediate excitement for the next opportunity I observed in our grandson. [Russell]