Pearce includes a map in her book. She talks about the 4 steps that lead to our actions or behaviors. The first step which we will shorten to simply “Input,” is when the data from the external comes in. It is all information that comes from our senses (sight, taste, touch, hear, smell), to our bodies, and into our brains. It is simply data at this point. It doesn’t have a meaning yet, nor is it evaluated. The “senses observe and report to the mind” (Pearce, 29). All these things are meaningless right now.
They are assigned significance and a message only after they pass through the second step.
Next, we will shorten this step to the “Belief” level. We will be revisiting this level several times; however, for now, it’s important to simply understand what happens here. As the “Input” comes in, it is filtered through the “Belief” level. Have you ever observed that two people can witness the same thing, such as a car crash, and have a completely different stories of what happened? Why is that? It is because we literally perceive things differently. Because of what is here at the “Belief” level---what we believe about ourselves, other people, the way the world works---it shapes what we do because of it.
Virginia lumped “Belief” and “Thoughts” together. I am going to separate them back out and here is why. As the “Input” comes in and passes through the “Belief” level, it is assigned meaning. I believe this meaning comes out as a “Thought(s).” Because of what has happened and based on what we believe, we will interpret that data.
Do you remember the example I shared from kindergarten where the t truth, “Always serve others before you serve yourself,” was introduced into my Belief Boxes? For most of my life when I had some sort of “Input” come in that lined up with that “Belief,” say for example, I got a phone call to babysit someone's kids. It would pass through this “Belief.” Although my schedule was already bursting, my “Belief” would kick out the “Thoughts” of “You are selfish if you say no,” or “You have to give to others first,” or “You can only take care of yourself if there is time, energy, or means left over after you have taken care of everyone else.”
I would often experience shame at the thought of saying no. The shame could alert me that something just happened that deserved my detective skills, but I didn’t see it like that until recent years. Instead I would find myself cringing as I ask, “What time do you need to drop the kids off?”
If somebody else had a similar “Input” as this example, it may be assigned completely different meaning because of the way it is filtered based on past experience and the “Beliefs” created from those experiences. Just like almost everything we have talked about, this is a personal, personal experience. It will look different for each one of us.
Third, because the Input has been assigned a meaning through the “Beliefs” by thinking “Thoughts,” we then experience “Emotions.” Pearce suggests a few: “Anger, irritation, peace, contentment, satisfaction, anxiety, discouragement, depression, joy” (page 29). Because of what came in, how it was interpreted based on our Belief Boxes and the “Thoughts” it produced, we then experience an emotional reaction.
Fourth, it is these “Emotions” that lead to our “Actions/Behaviors.” “We are back now to the things we can see, hear, smell, and touch. This includes all verbal and physical behavior. Behavior is a matter of individual will and choice” (Pearce, 29). Because of what came in, how we give meaning to that “Input” through “Thoughts,” and the “Emotion” that resulted from those “Thoughts,” we take “Action.” Sometimes we think our "Actions/Behaviors" or others' "Actions/Behaviors" validate what we believe, for example, "See, I will never get it right" or "I really am unlovable."
We do what we do not because of what we do:)That may have been a slightly confusing sentence. Our actions, behaviors, and the things we do or say are not random, free floating, or unrelated. They are simply an outward manifestation that there is something going on inside of us. They simply indicate that there is something deeper. Just like the cough from a cold, they are merely symptoms. We do what we do because of what happens inside of our mind (and the interaction of our mind with the world around us). Let’s take a moment to examine each of these four parts in closer detail.
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