Last night I watched the women’s volleyball semi final where the USA defeated Brazil in 5 sets. Congratulations to both teams for a great match! It was fun to watch the intensity of the players, and was an exciting back and forth with the USA taking the lead, then Brazil, and then back again. The players were amazing to watch, a group of very talented athletes.
The fans who were watching the match were split between fans cheering for the USA and fans cheering for Brazil. And there were also some neutral fans in the crowd cheering for the great sporting event.
As a life coach, and someone who studies human behavior, I noticed something interesting unfold as the game went on and then concluded. When the game was over the fans cheering for the USA were happy, smiling, cheerful and excited for the USA. There was a lot of jumping up and down, hugging, and even tears of joy. Conversely, the fans who were rooting for Brazil were the opposite; I could see frustration, disappointment, and there were tears of sadness.
What occurred to me as I witnessed this was how our thoughts, not our circumstances, create our experience in life. The circumstance in this case was the fact that the USA beat Brazil in an olympic volleyball match. Each person’s experience however, was different depending on which team they were rooting for. In other words the experience that the USA fans had was completely different from the experience that the Brazilian fans had. Same circumstances, different experiences.
How often do we believe that our circumstances create our experience? For example, if I receive bad service at a restaurant it means I have a bad experience. Or if someone cuts me off in traffic it makes me angry.
Or conversely, if I receive a good grade on a report card it makes me happy. Or if I land that deal at work, or if I get a raise that makes me happy.
But does the circumstance really create the experience? Or was it my thinking about the circumstance that created the reality I’m experiencing?
What I’ve discovered to be true is that my experience in life is not created from the outside in. It is always created from the inside out, via my thinking in the moment. And as I’ve explored this more in my own life, I’ve become a much happier person than I used to be.
