Your Hamster

Years ago on a drive across the country, a buddy and I were on a stopover in Chicago. We were out searching one night for a bar that a friend of his said we should visit when it began to rain. At that moment we were standing under the tracks of Chicago’s famous El Train. My buddy looked at me and said, “So, what do you want to do? Are we gonna keep looking in the rain or do you just wanna head back to the hotel?” We decided to head back when he then said, “Okay, so do you wanna catch a cab or take the subway?” Then he looked up and said, “Well I guess it’s not really a subway. It’s more of a train. Like an elevated train . . . . an el-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-levated train. An El Train.” I was amazed as I just stood there watching the hamster start running on the wheel in his brain as he figured out why they call it an El Train. From then on the hamster running became the joke when someone’s brain started to kick in and the wheel started turning. I later revised that hamster’s role to represent the times when our brain takes us to dark places.

Have you ever noticed that’s it’s human nature to focus on the negative?

And it seems that for the most part people just assume that it will. 

While shopping in a Jimmy Buffett Store in Kissimmee Florida I walked up to the store clerk and started my request with, “You wouldn’t happen to have … would you?” As soon as I did, I stopped and thought, “Wow! That was weird.” Why didn’t I approach the request from the positive? Why did I not instead ask the clerk, “Do you happen to have?” Apparently, my brain was wired to expect the negative result of them not having what I requested instead of moving forward with the positive expectation of them actually having what I wanted. Interesting huh? So I began to take notice of how I acted and how others behaved in similar situations and I began to notice that for the most part, people are conditioned to expect the negative result and usually move forward having prepared themselves for that outcome.

This behavior became my new description of Your Hamster. He starts running when you start focusing on the negative. 

I was talking with a friend of mine in the office a few years ago when another woman whom we both knew and a man came in together. The woman looked in our direction and began talking with her companion. At which time my friend immediately got nervous believing that she was saying bad things about her. I asked why she thought that and how did she just know that this woman was not telling her companion what a great person she is and how she’s so popular and very good at her job and admired and liked by just about everyone? It was interesting to witness her immediate assumption that since they were looking in our direction that they must be saying bad things about her. How did she even know that they were not maybe talking about me? 

We talk more about how you talk to yourself in the section on Self Monologue, but it seems that allowing Your Hamster to take you first to the dark places and unhealthy thoughts may have a direct correlation to your levels of self-esteem and self-confidence. The question though is, does your poor Self-Monologue and low self-esteem cause Your Hamster to take you to those dark places, or is it Your Hamster taking you to the dark places that causes your poor Self-Monologue and low self-esteem? It seems that when your self-esteem is low or you’re lacking self-confidence then you tend to have a bleaker outlook on life and expect bad or more negative things to happen. Whereas, on the contrary, if your self-esteem is healthy and you have a good level of self-confidence, then it follows that you tend to have more positive expectations out of life.

So think about your own life and how you act and react in various situations. Does Your Hamster take you to dark places or do you have a more positive influence over where he takes you? Do you expect the store clerk to tell you they don’t have what you’re looking for, or that they do? When someone is talking about you, do you expect they’re saying bad things about you, or do you believe they’re speaking highly of you? When your girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse is late, do you believe they were simply and harmlessly held up, or do you immediately believe they’re cheating on you or otherwise avoiding you? In that last example, it takes a good measure of self-confidence to then place the appropriate Trust in your partner, but knowing about the concept of Your Hamster and that it seems to be human nature to go first to the dark places and unhealthy thoughts is a great step in the direction of gaining a positive influence over where you will allow Your Hamster to take you. Having the awareness that it may just be a natural tendency to focus first on the negative can help you to avoid falling into that trap. If you can keep Your Hamster from taking you to those dark places, you may just find your self-esteem and self-confidence rise as a result.

We talk more about the above example of your partner showing up late in the section on Trust.

Continue Your Journey to the Page on Universe of Knowledge

Return to The Homepage

Recent Articles

• 
• 
• 

1. Too Close for Comfort

   Sep 06, 19 06:47 PM

   
   Too Close for Comfort is a hilarious (100% True) short story on The Lighter Side of Sharing Expenses.

   Read More

2. Signs of a Good Partner

   Jul 02, 19 10:13 PM

   
   Does your S.O. exhibit these universal signs that characterize a good partner? And equally as important . . . DO YOU?

   Read More

3. The Awakening by Sonny Carroll

   Mar 27, 19 06:18 PM

   
   The Awakening by Sonny Carroll - A time comes in your life when you finally get it ...

   Read More

More to Come !!