Not Everything Deserves A Reaction

Be still.  Observe.  Learn.  Not everything deserves a reaction.

I am a Reactor.  I go straight from noticing a situation to just freakin' acting.  Not a lot of thought involved.  Sometimes, if there's a handle around, you bet I'm going to fly off it.  

This isn't such a bad thing when something has fallen from a counter or shelf and is about to hit the floor, or a kid or other type person is in imminent danger.  But it's a negative thing in less dire situations, and it could probably also lead to a bar-fight.

Over the last stretch of time, like the last year or so, many phrases about not being so quick to react:

Pause for the cause

Put yourself on a three-second delay

Take a breath

The lion does not turn her head for every little dog that barks along its path

And my favorite right now:

Be still.  Observe.  Learn.  Not everything deserves a reaction.

That one really struck me because so often, it feels like punishment to me when I don't "get to" react.  And if it's put in the frame of whether or not something deserves a reaction, not reacting starts to feel more like a privilege than a punishment.  

What a power-move, when it's put to me that way.  

So there it is.  Instead of looking at not giving a reaction to something being a punishment, there's power in deciding to be still, observe, and learn.  

There's power in deciding what deserves a reaction, what deserves my energy.  Or your energy.