Your Life As A Science Experiment

How my brain felt forming this experiment. (Photo via Unsplash)

For as long as I’ve had the awareness, the relationship between myself and one of my siblings has always been rather…chilly. There absolutely are moments of warmth and laughter, however, because we’re human, those chilly times can come rather often and unexpectedly. So when they arrive, it’s hard not to feel as though I need to hunker down and brave the storm. For a while, I had become increasingly frustrated by the feeling that I was putting in a lot more effort into our relationship than they were. I found my ego and pride taking a beating by constantly feeling like my expectations weren’t being met in our relationship.

After living in this energy space for a while, I became inspired (seemingly out of the blue but it’s more likely that I may have read it somewhere) to treat any upcoming interactions with my sibling as a science experiment. You know, as a project or rather a “what would happen if I approached the same situation in this new way?” shift in behavior. It seemed like the best course of action in order to feel as though I had some control over my emotions in the moments where there would be tension. I didn’t make my intentions known, I just went ahead and put on my scientist hat.

The basic principles of the scientific method involve formulating a question, determining your hypothesis, making a prediction, conducting experiments, analyzing the data, and finally, drawing a conclusion. My overarching goal by using this method was to better my relationship with my sibling and ultimately with my own emotions. This process allowed me to become extremely OBJECTIVE instead of SUBJECTIVE within the parameters of this particular relationship. If anything frustrated me during the course of an experiment, I would remember that it is not I who is frustrated, but the scientist. It gave me the space to remove myself from the environment and view the situation/relationship objectively. Creating this space allowed me to step away from my feelings and view what was happening from many different angles.

One of the most beautiful revelations I had as a result of this experiment was that none of these things (my relationship with my sibling along with everything else in my life) were happening TO me. They were just happening. And since they are just happening, I am able to remove myself from my immediate reactions and, with the space created, shift my perspective to a more beneficial response that feels good and is best for the situation.

I aim to apply this experience, along with my newfound abilities, to every aspect of my life. I’m extremely curious about the revelations I’ll have when I keep this up!

I really hope this helps. Sound off in the comments what situations you’ll be applying the scientific method to!