FLOP stands for Fundamental Life Operating Program. It develops from an early age and is based upon all our life experiences. It is largely formed by the age of 18, giving a person a sense of identity, stability and predictability in an otherwise confusing and destabilizing world. It becomes the lens through which everything in our lives is interpreted. We tend to focus on things that reinforce our FLOP and ignore or dismiss things that don’t. We protect our FLOP and find people who operate from a similar FLOP, providing safety in numbers and the feeling of being right, even righteous. Because our FLOPs are largely informed by family, religion and educational input, we never question them and have no shortage of similarly minded people. We become suspicious of anyone and everyone who doesn’t fit into the normative picture we have constructed of how life works and what is important.
But your FLOP can become a prison for your mind which you will eventually have to break free from if you are to grow and live your true life. Like a computer, your FLOP needs regular upgrades, which is why our lives involve many crises. We are meant to reinvent ourselves over the course of a well-lived life. Science tells us that the human body completely regenerates every seven years, so shouldn’t our minds too? What made sense to us when we were 7 should probably not make sense to us when we are 77. Transference describes a lack of mental flexibility where we try to live out our lives with an outdated road map or FLOP, clinging to the way things were instead of coming to terms with how they are. So don’t be surprised if you are feeling lost. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Just life showing you that it may be time to revisit and upgrade your FLOP. This can become a daily activity which is ultimately liberating. I would like to show you how so please give me a call, psychologist in Fourways.