Default Mode

When faced with a crisis or difficult situation, what is your first response? In counseling a client this past week, he related that when faced with unpleasant news, his first response was to go to a bar and get drunk. Another client said that when she anticipated bad news, she would curl up in the fetal position on the couch and wait for the worst.

This is what I call the “default mode”. It’s the initial reaction to external negative stimulus. Maybe your default mode is to yell, stomp your feet or even get physical with the other person. The negative encounter causes you to react based on how you’ve reacted in the past when you’ve been in similar situations. This reaction happens in most cases without thinking and can be harmful to yourself or others.

If you anticipate a negative situation taking place in the future, take a moment and actually think through your options so that you can respond in the moment, rather than react. It’s also important to do a self check of your “default mode” when you’re not facing a crisis. Ask yourself if your “default mode” has worked for you in the past. If you discover that you have a faulty “default mode”, then you will need to reset it.

The Bible gives us a wonderful example by way of King David. In Psalms 139:22, he writes:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”

And then in Psalms 51:10 he asks:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”

To change your “default mode”, take time to think about any possible reactions to negative situations and every day, ask God to search your heart so that you may walk with a clean heart for yourself and toward others. DW