Do you ever take devilish pleasure in pushing other people’s buttons?

It seems that almost everyone knows what it’s like to have their buttons pushed. It goes something like this:

• Someone we know says or does something;
• What they say or do has an impact on us;
• We have some kind of external reaction;
• The other person learns that his/her words or action can trigger this reaction, and maybe derives some perverse pleasure from it;
• He/she waits till just the right moment to re-engage the words or action and hopes to get the same reaction from us.

Does this sound familiar to you? Have you been on the receiving end of this? Have you ever found yourself on the giving of it?

In previous Life Mastery TV episodes, Tommy & David have talked about the receiving side of this equation, and have taught that each of us has choice about how we react to any situation. In this episode, they take another look at the whole idea of “Pushing Buttons”, with a little more focus on the giving side of the interaction, and they raise some challenging questions about what might motivate us to want to push someone else’s buttons in the first place. Questions like these:

• Why would I want to push someone’s buttons (especially someone close to me)?
• What do I imagine I’m going to get out of the experience, other than perhaps a little strange pleasure?
• What kind of relationship am I creating with this person when I engage in button-pushing behaviors?
• What new strategies can I begin to practice so that I create the kind of relationship or interaction I actually want in my life?

This episode may make you a little uncomfortable, because you’ll be challenged to look at some of your own shadow behaviors. This is not intended to make you wrong in any way—after all, button pushing is almost certainly a pretty universal behavior!

Rather, the Soul Talk Guys just want to raise awareness about this common behavior and have us all look at this together from the perspective of creating happier, more loving relationships in our lives. So, take a risk and watch the video. You’ll be glad you did!

PS. Please remember to leave a comment below!

The post LMTV #61: Pushing Buttons appeared first on Life Mastery TV (Archive) - All LMTV episodes prior to 2018.