More Backsplashing

I've taken to heart the cook's mantra "never catch a falling knife". Let it drop, let it clatter, don't move. To reaffirm the habit, I mutter the mantra to myself each time. Never catch a falling knife!

The problem is that now that it's engrained, it happens when anything drops. Pens, scouring pads, TV remote controls, Pop Tarts. Just now, I passively watched my heavy gym lock clatter to my previously immaculately finished wood floor, morosely intoning "Never try to catch a falling gym lock."


Mental/behavioral programming always backsplashes. For instance, my clever technique for unwinding at night so I could fall sleep was making me weirdly sleepy during stressful daytime moments.