I listened with amusement. I had moved from Hawaii, where some days one may as well walk the few miles to the airport rather than drive. Limited land and even more limited resources leave small aged roads limping through crowded residential areas. It had taken decades to build a 13-mile stretch of freeway through the Oahu mountain range separating the Leeward and Windward sides of the island.
Their conversation made me think about the Power of Exposure: how differently we think when we have been exposed to many types of situations. They have lived only in Phoenix, while I have lived with some of the worst traffic in America.
When I drive on Phoenix freeways, I want to send love letters to the Arizona Department of Transportation. Their airport signs are pure genius. Their freeways are wide and expansive, with obvious planning for future lanes. Of course, we are in the midst of the desert where expansion is far more possible than on an island. But I see poetry and planning where those who have lived nowhere else see frustration and crowding.
We are impacted by our exposure. When we have met many types of people, we gain perspective. When we have been in a variety of situations, we see the world differently. We humans are far more frail than we might want to admit. Yes, some of us are more resilient, more consistent and more adept at sifting through information that comes in… but we are impacted by situations and other people nonetheless.
If we are exposed only to toxic people, toxic television shows and toxic attitudes, we cannot help but think toxic thoughts. If we are around those who are optimistic and hopeful, we become more optimistic. When we read stimulating and thought-provoking material, we fire neurons in our brains that move us in new directions and help us form a wider worldview.
Malcolm Gladstone says in his book "The Tipping Point" that we are who we are in relation to and in reaction to others. We are not as consistent as we like to think. The world is chemistry in motion. We are confident and relaxed with someone who admires us. We are wary and suspicious with someone who does not like or trust us. We do become who we hang out with. It would do us well to pay attention to those who might influence our well-being.
What kind of exposure do you have in your life? Are you consciously choosing what you watch and who you listen to? When you find yourself reacting - is it because you don't have enough information - or-- Is it because the situation or person challenges your closely held notions?
Will the exposure to a new idea or new culture change your perspective in a good way? Is it giving you ways of looking at the world through fresh eyes and understanding, or is it creating pessimism and toxic thought? Is it creating greater wisdom for you?
Think about these things not only on an individual level, but also on a cultural and corporate level. What we have been exposed to creates our worldview. Is your world view so narrow that it excludes a great deal of the planet? Is it wide enough to allow you to see the world through other people's eyes?
Remember - we all have a movie going on in our heads. We are the directors, the actors and the producers of that movie. It is our movie because we chose it based upon what we have seen and what we know. In short, our movie comes from what we have been exposed to.
Probably the simplest explanation of the Power of Exposure is this: Think of your brain as a bucket. Whatever goes into a bucket will impact everything else in the bucket. That mixture in the bucket will be expressed in some way. Your level of success, your attitudes about other people, about work, about relationships - all will be impacted by what you have put in the bucket.
So, if you haven't put positive, supportive information into the bucket, it is hard to have positive, supportive and successful results in your life. It is very hard to take something out of a bucket if it has never been put into the bucket in the first place.
So - what are you putting into your bucket? If you knew that everything you read, every discussion you overheard or engaged in, every TV show you watched were all being mixed together in a great big bucket… would you be happy with the stew that you have created?
Does the exposure you have support you?
Does it take you where you want to go?
Are you taking charge of that mixture or just letting anything be dumped in that brain of yours?
You have a choice what goes in.
Choose wisely.
Take care of yourself… the world needs healthy people!
Beth
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They were sitting at my table railing at the traffic situation in Phoenix. The women thought that our department of transportation was failing badly and had a litany of anecdotes to prove it. Born and raised here, they clearly felt we were "going to hell in a hand basket." Unspoken, but understood by this interloper was the concern about the influx of new people like me clogging up the freeways.