Remember Pavlov?

During the 1890s he was studying salivation in dogs in response to being fed. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After repeating this pairing numerous times, he simply rang the bell and viola, the dogs salivated.  This phenomenon became known as classical conditioning.

People can be much like Pavlov’s bell. We enter a room and what response has been conditioned in the people who know us? When people see us, hear our names, hear our voices, find out they are working with us…how do they react? How do you want them to react?

Do you hope others will be:

Fearful

Angry

Excited

Happy

Relieved

Sad

Comforted

Anxious

Enraged

That old cliche, ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’ rings true doesn’t it? If you treat people in such a way that they are afraid when you are near, they won’t treat you well either. Simple truths of human interaction. So instead of thinking about all the ways in which people treat you badly, why don’t we all think about what kind of bell we are or have been? If you’ve been a shrill, loud, clanging bell, why not try being a soft, tinkling beautiful sounding bell?

There’s another saying that applies; you get what you give. If you’re not getting good things in your life, examine what you’ve been giving.