Living your life fully regulated and balanced is like toasting a perfect piece of toast (whatever that looks like to you).
When we envision our perfect life we have a picture that goes along with it. Hopefully, that picture is fully in color and sharp and clear. One that gives you a wonderful feeling inside.
The same can be said about your ideal piece of toast (whatever type you prefer, including gluten-free products) and what it looks and smells like as you imagine that picture inside your mind. (sub-modalities aside)
The reason I am sharing this comparison is because of the way the toaster oven component of my stove works.
I have a two-door oven with the top section being smaller for smaller items and it has a toast mode that we use in the mornings (and to reheat pizza, but that’s for another post) to make our toast. Push the “toast” button, it tells you that four minutes is the right amount of time, and it sets the right combination of oven temp and broiler timing.
If you put your toast in and it is a cold stove, the settings work fine and you get an almost perfect piece of toast every time. However, if the oven was used before and it is still warm inside then you will burn your toast almost every time. Unless you recognize the situation and adjust your settings accordingly.
The same can be said about our emotional response to situations.
I use the example of road rage when I talk about this with my clients. Imagine you are driving down the road and someone doesn’t use their turn signal or maybe they won’t let you merge in the lane as you need to. Usually, this isn’t an overly dangerous situation and one that most people deal with daily and just move on with their journey.
There are those that get infuriated with these behaviors and blow their top. The reason they get so upset is usually not the event itself so much as what this event brings up within them. It usually connects them to something that is a bigger issue in their lives and this event becomes a symbol of that issue.
Similar to that warm oven that burns the toast.
As we clear out those negative emotions (anger in this case) and also process and deal with any limiting beliefs from the past, then we can look at each situation with clear eyes and see it for what it is.
Living our lives regulated and balanced, invoking that ideal picture and feelings of living the life we desire. Just like that perfect piece of toast.
As you may have guessed, Humor is very important to me and one of my highest values in work and personal life.
I also use metaphors and analogies a fair amount since our unconscious mind works in symbols and stories and I find people can make the biggest shifts within the two.
