SUCCESSFUL REALITY REPAIR OF TWO COMMON MENTAL MISTAKES

SUCCESSFUL REALITY REPAIR OF TWO COMMON MENTAL MISTAKES
By
Bill Cottringer

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” ~Philip K. Dick

What life is all about is fixing realities that we don’t like and creating new and better ones we want. We do this because getting the right results in learning, growing and improving ourselves gets something else—the ultimate grand prize in life. This “Prosperity Zone” in the “Land of Plenty” is the intrinsically rewarding and undeniably compelling sense of authentic happiness, genuine success and contented well-being that we were all born to pursue, find and enjoy. Some say this is the basic purpose of life. It is certainly the biggest challenge.

Consider these common unwanted realities we all get confronted with:

• Physical pain or discomfort from injuries or illnesses.
• The sudden and unexpected death of a loved one.
• Undeserved unemployment and difficult financial crises.
• An unsatisfying sexual relationship that communication only makes worse.
• Serious conflicts in values with others at work or home.
• Your children getting into trouble at school or with the law.
• Being distressed from the ornery overload, lack of time to do things, treadmill trap, and trying to keep up with the hyper speed of change.

There are always two possible realities in the way of successful reality repair of these kinds of problem situations:

1. You might not have an accurate or complete view or understanding of a particular unwanted reality that you want to fix, or the particular reality you want to create. You may be missing the real truth of the matter.
2. You might not fully believe you really have the power or ability to change the reality, even when the situation is very unpleasant and you are highly motivated to so something about it. We all have this self-doubt to some degree or another.

Successful reality repair of these two common mental mistakes is not a quick and easy thing to accomplish. It takes a lot of time and effort to get an accurate and complete view of a situation before you try to act or react to it. You may see the surface symptoms of any of the problems listed above and miss all the underlying causes or inter-related connections out of view and then fail miserably, mainly because of what you don’t know. In our common habit of trying to satisfy our immediate need gratification with quick and easy cures, our proverbial impatience gets in the way of our success quest big time.

Of course success in the reality repair business requires the humility to consider the possibility of two realities that may not be quite so easy to swallow: (a) what you think you know to be so about a particular problem or situation at hand, is not really so (especially when you already have a lot invested in what you know), and (b) you may have much more power to change even physical realities, than you imagine.

Admitting either that you could be wrong about how you see a problem and how you think it can be fixed, or that you are not using your power fully, are not admissions you are inclined to make public. But, without this openness to these possible realities, the corrections that are needed to get a better outcome never happen and you end up empty-handed and wonder why.

I am fortunate enough to live in a comfortable cabin on the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River in the scenic pacific northwest mountains of North Bend, WA. I built a large sign for the bank of the river from some driftwood I collected from nearby Whidbey Island. The sign reads “Reality Repair” because the sign is my reminder that the view is successful in reducing the stress of all the unwanted realities in my life that I am learning to accept and tolerate more so I can use my left over positive energy to create a few wonderful realities I want. It is working.