What upsets you?

We all have things that upset us, or, more precisely, we all allow certain things to cause us discomfort.

Do you ever stop and ask yourself why this situation upsets you?

Sure there are obvious answers. Someone is being insensitive. Another is being stubborn. A third is being just plain mean. Maybe someone just doesn’t get it.

Why does this upset us?

There is a psychological concept called cognitive dissonance. It basically means the situation we find ourselves in is different from the situation we perceive we should be in. The difference between the two must be resolved!

There are a number of ways that we can deal with cognitive dissonance. We can rationalize. We can justify. We can become angry, upset, or scared. We can alter our behavior to make the dissonance understandable.

Or we can change our idea of the “right situation”. This is the most difficult to do, but brings the most rewarding results.

If we drop our preconceived notions of how things “should” be we can deal with problems at face value. They tend to become much less of a big deal at this point.

The next time you find yourself saying “This is not right!” when someone upsets you, challenge your assumptions.

I’m not saying to change your values. I’m saying challenge your notion of what should or should not be. After all, things can need improvement without being “wrong”.

The difference is your mental and spiritual well-being.