Labels

are a great tool to know what you get, no!?

Our life is full of Labels; they are immensely useful for making visual notes
for Jars; Boxes; Cans; Ledger; Shelves; Drawers and so many other things, so we
remember what they contain, or where they belong once we return them.
Labels reduce the time to search for things like no other Tool.

Great!

And then there are Mental Labels.
We start already at an early stage, approx. 2-3 years of age, to identify and
Label our world.
It begins with the development of our language skills further and we never lose
that.
All we lose with time is the ability to change our mental Labels and they
become like engraved in stone.

In our Mental Labeling machinery, there are no breaks allowed.
And while Labels in many situations in life do help us to prevent us from
experiencing dangerous situations; to make predictions of a possible outcome of
a situation or an answer to a simple question more accurate, they also stop us
from learning something new, experiencing something anew, and changing a Label.

Our Label Service runs in the background and we don`t notice it.
For some moments in life that is important.
Especially if we connect the Label with immediate danger.
(For danger, we have different Systems to identify and react to them. There is
our instinct and then there are our defined Labels).

And finally, we do not only Label things, but people.
Every day, all the time; no stopping there.
Once we labeled a person; it will be extremely difficult for that person to
change the Label it received.

A Label is like a judgment, and nobody likes to be judged simply by its
appearance for example.
We all know the saying “A first impression is everything”.
And yes it is important. Wanting or not, but the primacy effect gets to all of
us.
Whatever new we see, it takes us seconds to validate and label it….following
impressions of the same are not remembered as well as the first.

Ultimately what can make a difference, is our awareness.
If we become aware of our labeling process, we likely can not stop it, we
shouldn’t even, but we can change the way we handle them and not let the first
impression become the Master-Lable. We can become the Master of the Labels and
not be dominated by them.

I could add a lot of examples, but Let`s Talk about it instead!

Namaste!

Armaan