Sometimes we analyze or rely on our prior experiences when making decisions. While it’s not always wrong, it depends on the situation, both now and in the past. What I mean is that it’s practically impossible to intentionally create two scenarios that are exactly the same. Why is that? Since the environment and its surroundings have an impact on every scenario, we cannot always control these factors. How can we manage the circumstance that depends on it if we have no control over the surrounding effect?
Now consider how we may relate two situations if they cannot be the same, if the places that each situation will influence are different, and if the areas that would cause affection are also distinct. But, most of the time we all share the same thought processes and unintentionally connect past events to the present. As we previously learned, there is nothing wrong with it unless and until it demotivates you in the present or adversely affects the efforts you are attempting to make in the present.
If we use the following scenario as an example, you may have given a ride on Lyft to a pedestrian who was crossing the street, which resulted in the loss of something valuable from your bag, which you discovered once you got home. Someone you assisted stole something valuable out of your backpack.
Imagine that a few days or months from now you see someone asking for a lift again, and this time you remember an encounter you had in the past. What do you think—will you or won’t you help that person? Will you or won’t you make a connection between your past and your current situation?
Once more, it will rely on your current condition as well as your former circumstances. If the person you are providing a lift to is someone you know, then yes. If you have experience robbing people, you might not hesitate to give this person a lift.
In a different circumstance, after having that initial encounter in the past, one of your friends described his story of giving a lift to an elderly woman who called him to her home for tea. You now have a residence near the route you take every day, where you may go at any time in case of emergency or just to relax. You have a certain relationship with that elderly woman that reminds you of your grandma. You might feel tempted to have a similar experience after hearing about it. There will undoubtedly be a result of your prior experiences. Hence, there will be some hesitation and fear in your thinking.But, there will surely be an idea of helping people again in the back of your mind.
What we first chose as a course of action for the current situation depends on both the current and the previous circumstances. The interval of time between the two circumstances, however, is another important consideration because what we go through in that period has a significant impact on how we react in the present. And this is the aspect of the environment that we were discussing.
These external influences impacting the scenario are the reason why the situation cannot be the same at two separate periods. We are unable to predict or control how a situation will develop. So, we are likewise unable to determine whether or how our past experiences will affect our current.
We must therefore have a thorough understanding of all that has happened to us if we are to respond to the circumstances in the present with extremely honest, pure, and independent replies. In order to prevent the development of a rigid thought process, also consider the situation’s cause and effect.
Your social and mental health will be easier to manage if your thoughts are adaptable, accepting, and not rigid towards yourself and others. Otherwise, it might cause issues for us in our social lives.
We observed that it was frequently very difficult for the person to accept the reality as it is simply due to past experiences and very rigid thought processes. It eventually affects mental health as well.
We can use the nutgrass plant as an illustration of this flexibility (CyperusRotundus). The only plant that survives in its current state during extremely stormy conditions is nutgrass. And this is as a result of its flexibility. All of the plants that are rigid are uprooted. But Nutgrass still exists. It sways with the wind to protect itself. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it bends indefinitely. It remains in place after a storm.It simply accepts the stormy circumstances and accepts the storm as a fact of live without losing its own nature of life.
Similar to this, we must strengthen our power of acceptance if we want to prevent being rooted out. Then, not only your past experiences but also those of others won’t influence how you react in the present to any situation.