Trick or Treating an Idea – Tina Geithner, Ph.D.

Fall is probably my favorite season, and part of the reason is Halloween, and the centuries-old ritual or custom of wearing costumes, or ”guising” (impersonating the spirts or souls of the dead) and going door-to-door or house-to-house and singing or reciting poems or performing short scenes or parts of plays in exchange for food or drink or money – offerings on behalf of the dead, and threatening mischief if the homeowners refused…hence the term “trick-or-treating”.

As Halloween approaches, it reminds me that there are times we don’t recognize the true nature of something because it may show up disguised as something else, or because our brains have been trained to see something in a certain way. A recent example is when I was tending my parents’ house in Florida, and I noticed some mildew around the perimeter of a skylight inside near the base where it meets the ceiling. I went to the worst-case scenario in my head pretty quickly, assuming there was a leak in the tile roof or around the exterior seal around the skylight. A roofing company employee came to check for moisture inside and out and went up on the roof…and found no leak on the roof or around the seal of the skylight – good news. Then he went into the attic to see what might be causing the moisture and mildew around the base of the skylight. Turns out that the attic insulation was up against the AC ductwork and was causing water to condense and that was the cause of the problem.

Next, I called a company that provides AC and plumbing maintenance and repair services to request an emergency house call. The service technician who came out that Friday night spent three hours there in all, first rearranging the insulation in the attic, then clearing the clogged PVC pipes that drained water from the AC unit to the outside of the house. Turns out there is some sort of chemical reaction between the air in the house, the water involved in cooling, and the plastic in the PVC pipes that is common in AC units and that causes a slimy build-up in the pipes that can calcify and create a drainage problem…kind of like too much cholesterol and saturated fat creating plaque inside our arteries, clogging them and reducing blood flow, raising blood pressure, and increasing our risk for heart attack and stroke. Here I go catastrophizing again… and I Iearned a few things about AC units, condensation, and PVC pipes in this process. I also found myself very grateful for someone willing to spend the time and energy to resolve the problem completely on a hot, humid Friday night in Florida.

The next morning, I was moving some things around in the garage under the AC unit and noticed water had puddled on top of two file cabinets. I immediately made the leap to worst-case scenario, really worried that there was a leak from the AC unit and bemoaning my frustration out loud – *#@! I don’t need another crisis this week!! I recognized my strong reaction, took a deep breath, and started clearing the things on top of the file cabinets to see how bad the problem was before getting more bend out of shape. And as I worked, I realized the puddle wasn’t that big after all and there wasn’t an active leak. The cause of the puddle was one can of sparkling water in a carton of cans sitting on top of the filing cabinet that had sprung a leak and emptied the can. The problem was easily resolved once the source of the water was located.

Reflecting on this scenario had me realize how quickly I had jumped to a conclusion that was incorrect, not once, but twice in 24 hours, and that I got more stressed out then I needed to be, all as a result of my thinking. Instead of leaping to the worst-case scenario (Trick!), I can take time to consider the situation from different perspectives ranging in seriousness or the gift or good news (Treat!) that may be waiting. Allow me to play with the Halloween analogies a bit further… instead of switching into worry-mode in recognizing the mildew at the base of the skylight, I could have seen the positives in this situation. For example, how fortunate that I was there to notice the moisture problem in the skylight and was able to take action to correct it before it became a bigger problem and caused serious damage. How wonderful that there wasn’t a leak in the roof or in the seal around the skylight (which would have been much worse in terms of $$)! And, how nice that there was the guy who made the emergency service call who was a keen problem-solver and willing to do what it took to resolve the AC and condensation issue completely. It’s certainly easier to shift perspectives in hindsight than in the moment, and if we practice doing that in low-stress or “low-wattage” situations (i.e., not in a crisis situation), we can save ourselves a lot of worry and stress in the long run.

So, the next time something shows up at your door (or in your skylight or garage) that evokes a strong emotional or stress reaction (a fight, flight, or freeze reaction), pause and see if you can be curious about the costume and what it really is (e.g., demon or Disney princess) and shift your perspective by asking ourselves:

• How would I view this on a different day, after I’ve had a good night’s sleep, or the timing was different, or it was an isolated event rather than one in series of challenges?
• How will I see this in a week, a year, five years, ten years, from my deathbed?
• What if I could engage my sense of humor about it, even to the level of absurdity like a good stand-up comedian/comedienne could spin it?
• How might my best friend or significant other view this? What are the worst-case scenarios (Trick!) and the best-case scenarios (Treat!)?
• What is the highest intention of my heart? How does brining this intention to mind frame my response to my current challenge?

Then we can take action from a different place, or we can change the channel and do something different that will help shift our perspective.

Trick or treat? We always have the opportunity to choose our perspective and our response to what comes up in the moment…exercising a more mindful approach to life’s challenges. Happy Halloween!

Resources

Hanson, Rick. Change the Channel. Available at: https://www.rickhanson.net/change-the-channel/?highlight=perspective

Kornfield, Jack. Practice: Seeing from the Universal Perspective. Available at: https://jackkornfield.com/practice-seeing-from-the-universal-perspective/