Dr. Virginia Satir, and the Gap between Stimulus and Response

Last night, this morning, thinking about the way Dr. Virginia Satir broke down the gap between stimulus and response, and thought about how that related to the pace of change in a life.

1. Sensory
2. Meaning/Representation
3. Feeling
4. Feeling about Feeling
5. Self-Defense (if perceive threat to self)
6. Rules for Response
7. Response action

Breaking it down like this, you can see the opportunities for effecting a change in your life, going from one set of likely behaviors and responses (remember, emotions, impulses, transitory thoughts can also be stimulus, doesn't have to be strictly external), to another set of likely behaviors and responses. Each is an opportunity to make a change, because of the strictly linear flow from one to the next. (not talking about: changing your environment (even your inner metal environment), which changes the set of likely stimulus, which is another way to effect a change) The difficulty is that these steps happen so fast, they are practically hard-wired in the brain. It can take close to a decade (with consistent hard work and evaluation) to change some of these. That has been my experience. It is nice to have it broken down, anyway, so you can see the possible routes of attack to make a positive change.