Warwick Life Strategies

While sitting in a Winnipeg coffeehouse recently, I picked up a copy of "dig!" (Winnipeg's bi-monthly Jazz magazine). I take these whenever I see them, as I love reading the profiles of accomplished musicians as well as up & coming talents. Performance dates and venues are also listed within.

In the Nov/Dec 2010 issue, what caught my eye and got me thinking was the piece by Editor-In-Chief, Steve Kirby ("A Change in the Weather"). He writes about "reading old scripts" and the downside to holding onto these, as in doing so, we aren't opening our eyes to positive changes and to new realities.

Kirby's article focuses on Winnipeg. Our city is a wonderfully diverse, growing, changing, centre of activity. As examples, we have a thriving arts/music community, great restaurants and weather that isn't as horrible as some people may think and/or hear (though perhaps I'm speaking to soon...the winter weather is fast approaching!) However, some people fail to see and appreciate what our city has to offer. Although new information may be out there that could change our thoughts and opinions (about something or someplace), too many of us choose instead to rely on past ideas/assumptions/experiences when forming our opinions today.

As it relates to psychology, "(behavioural) scripts" are expected behaviours that occur in a specific situation. They are routinized and habitual, and can subconciously affect our perceptions, beliefs and behaviours. In effect, they automate our thought processes to some degree. They help us to know what to expect so we can perform certain actions with very little thought involved. An example of this is driving a car. There is an automatic procedure in place of putting your key in the door lock, opening the door, sitting on the seat, putting the key into the ignition, etc etc.

Yes, these scripts can truly be useful to us in certain situations. However, when we rely on scripts too much in guiding our thought processes, we do ourselves an injustice. We risk closing our eyes to new realities and failing to see what is now before us, so we know how to adapt and change when necessary. We have to be certain that we are allowing ourselves to explore new opportunities and in turn, are growing, learning and appreciating all that surrounds us.

Think about yourself and reflect upon your own life. Can you identify times when you relied on an old script only to realize later that it needed to be changed or adjusted to fit with newly received information? Are you holding on to any old scripts right now?? And how would releasing these and opening your eyes to new perspectives help you to grow?

Change is happening all around us. All the time. We know this, yet too often we tend to cling comfortably to old and dated information. Reassess (and maybe let some things go...) Look at your world with new eyes.  What do you see today?