I was standing near the lift for going to the sixth floor in my office building.There were other people too and for some reason the lifts took a longer to reach our floor.As new people came near the lift, I noticed that each and everyone was invariably pressing the lift button as soon as they arrived. I was thinking to myself whether they dont realise that already there were so many people standing near the lift and atleast one among them would have pressed the button for the lift to stop in the floor? But then also i remembered doing it myself so many times. I wondered why we do that? Is it an involuntary action that one is programmed to press the button as soon as he comes to a lift? Is it that fear that may be others wouldnt have done it before us? Is it that feeling of security one gets pressing the button by himself? Then, is everyone so absent minded that they dont know what they are doing? Personally speaking, for me it was an involuntary action. The mind may be preoccupied with so many peremptory things that the routine stuff which it has already done so many times runs in automatic mode.The body is kind of programmed to perform the actions even if your concious mind is not constantly monitoring the your own actions. I can even quote an example like a person driving through the busiest streets to his office but cannot remember a single thing in the journey because he was always thinking about the meeting which he was attend that morning.I wonder myself.It has happenned with me so many times. Wierd but true.It could have happenned with anyone.It does happen i am sure.May be some psychologist who reads this blog may be able to post the answer.
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5 comments:
i m no pyschologist but i am a good observer & i do find that tru.
infact i have more observations of my own. like when ppl know that the batteries are weak or dead but they still press the button on the remote harder! it is perhaps indian tendency to do that. they would go on and on using the old remote stickin up its hanging parts with cellotape for years. ppl will buy a huge a** home theatre without a second thought, but will stil argue at the market for 1 rupee! amazing yet the tru flavor of our Motherland.I love my country.
Hi shashank
You are very right. great observations indeed. infact, if you sit silently on a railway station and just observe people, we can see so much so stuff like this.
its my hobby and i spend most of the time in airport or railway stations, doing just that.
Nice article...
Hmmm... yah... it happens in many habitual actions. If I think about it, the regular walk from my office building to my apartment was / is never a voluntary one... that is to say... I never think for a moment about where I am going, whether I am going in the correct direction. But still I would be pre-occupied with many other thoughts, and would be surprised that I have reached my apartment door. This had happenned many times before when I was riding my bicycle to my evening classes.
My personal opinion is that, the human mind does not always involve itself totally into performing habitual activities. Habitual actions take place involuntarily- like combing hair the moment you are in front of a mirror, like wearing your left shoe first everytime, like the daily walk/drive between home and workplace, like brushing your teeth- nobody actually brush their teeth with the focus on each and every 32 teeth... it is something else thats going on in the mind... mostly retrospection of yesterday's activities and planning for the present day, and like breathing!!
Thats why habits die hard!
Here... I just do not mean activities by habits... habitual thoughts... habitual presence... anything that is repetitive and the mind takes it for granted. Once that happens, then if there is change in the pattern, which is not under your control, that is when the mind is shocked ans starts all over again with a new perspective!
Like... we see the same people (family / outside) everyday and if we do the same activities with them everyday, we start taking them for granted... the mind involuntarily expects to see them everyday and do the same activities everyday... so it does not give importance / full involvement in these. And one day, if it wakes up not to find them there, that is when the shock sets in and the mind realises and starts all over... but only until it settles again into a rhythm! Some things are better if done involuntarily... but in general we do not like too many things to be out of our control... Thats the biggest challenge... to keep as much as possible under control... and for that, regular retrospection can help a lot!
Hey Creative thoughts..
Thanks for your insightful comments. Your comment brought out somethings which I remember having wanted to cover but left it because I didnt find the apt words. Wonderful.
keep visiting the blog.
karthik
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