Push, or pull?

Couple of days ago, I was in a restaurant having breakfast, when I noticed something interesting. The dining hall of the restaurant was separated from the washroom by two glass doors. The glass doors had the automatic door closing hinges attaches to them. The door on the right labelled ‘Pull’ , and the one on the left labelled ‘Push’.

In a flash, I remembered that when I frequented the door, I had used my left hand to push the left door away.

A simple act, but I could not make sense of it.

I, like 90% of the human population, am Right handed. And without the door labels, I was pretty sure I would have used my right hand to dabble with the right door. But, on seeing the door labels, the subconscious had determined that pushing the door is easier than pulling, and had made me use my non dominant hand to push the left door.

To test my (brilliant !!!) hypothesis, I observed the next few people frequented the door. Some used their right hand, some used their left, but almost everyone pushed the left door, instead of pulling the right.

This made me wonder. Deep inside, are we wired to take the easy way out? If we are wired to take the easy way out in a trivial task like opening a door, where the end result is the same no matter which door we choose, what about complex tasks? Hard decisions that will alter our future? Change our destiny?

It is no secret that the number of risk takers are less compared to those playing it safe. Everyone’s appetite for risk varies, after all. Some wired to risk it all, some wired to play it safe.

I just wonder, how many of the risk averse people are ‘naturally cautious’, and how many of them would be more open for challenges, once they realise that the ‘subconscious thoughts of self preservation’ is the one that’s holding them back!

Lines of an timeless poem by Robert Frost came to my mind: