TA in Pills - 1-7.1 TA Racket Theory 1

TA Racket Theory 1

(Racket is the name for inauthentic, repeating, attention gaining, manipulative expressions.)
"Words with special meaning are marked * or ** in text and explained in Notes"

TA Literature does not include racket theory as one of its sections. It is my creation.

Any inauthentic, repeating, attention seeking, unacceptable, manipulative engagement, behaviour, action, style or expression is a racket. Rackets are also characterised by same response pattern in a variety of stressful situations or stimuli. They show up as if automatically triggered. A person may move to a fit of anger, aggression, withdrawing or backtracking  in a variety of situations.

Some examples of rackets are:

• being mischievous.
• committing mistakes.
• being fussy.
• being argumentative.
• justifying one's beliefs, views and perceptions.
• causing loss, damage or harm.

Our mind gets occupied with thinking and emotional engagements. These get triggered subsequent to an event, due to what someone said or did, due to a recap, or for no known reason. We remain engaged in them though they do not benefit us. The thinking is related to feelings of hurt, pain, dislike, hate, resentment, shame, guilt, sadness, fear, anxiety and distress.  They are rackets.

Remaining engaged in unfavourable mood, temperament, opinionated state a day after, or for days after an unpleasant event, occurrence, engagement is a racket.

Inability to forgive is a sign of being racket ridden. To forgive means engaging in deliberate, mindful action to let pass through mind space the thought of person, event, occurrence or happening long after its incidence. This is done by realising futility in being engaged in a lock-up. It is described as drinking poison in the hope that the other will die. Therefore a racket.

Remaining locked in reach-backs* and after-burns* thereby denying the possibility of remaining occupied in the here now is a racket.

Rackets also manifest as inauthentic, maladaptive, manipulative, repeating patterns of :

• thinking, feeling and emotional states. 
• being abusive, use of bad language, threat, and blackmail.  
• behaviours, actions, patterns of doing things and activities.
• facial, bodily, gesticulate expressions. 
• actions causing harm, hurt, damage or loss.
• harassing, threatening, being aggressive or being violent.

They are justified, protected even professed as being necessary and proper.

Some more examples are:

• Coming late despite receiving warnings.
• Driving dangerously.
• Breaking rules and regulations.
• Procrastination causing delays in submission or completion.
• Holding up others to wait without providing updates.
• Speaking, Expressing or Behaving inappropriately.
• Treating subordinates rudely.
• Taking undue risks.
• Knowingly taking wrong decisions to try out.

Berne says that a racket, is a feeling out of all the possible feelings, that is habitually turned on by a person as his payoff in the games he plays. These feelings constitute trading stamps*. He uses 'the roulette wheel theory' to explain**. There is a predetermined response to every type of stimulus that gets activated spontaneously. Every family has a specific way of responding to or a reacting pattern to given situations. Fanita English Says that rackets are substitute feelings replacing authentic feelings. While authentic feelings help in solving problems or ending situations, substitute feelings do not help. Children are not permitted during growing years to feel the authentic feelings. They therefore express substitute feelings when grown up . Stewart and Joines say that racket is is a familiar emotion learned and encouraged in childhood, experienced in many different stress situations, and maladaptive as an adult means of problem solving.

This blog comes from Ajit Karve from Pune. I am a qualified TA Practitioner. I specialise in using TA for personal growth, personal development, personal effectiveness and for transformational change. I can be reached on +919822024037. Please feel free to seek clarifications by writing to me on ajitpkarve@gmail.com or taforyouandme@gmail.com. 

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Notes:

*Trading Stamp: Is a feeling or emotion that is collected for future use or cashed out in service of script.
*Reach-back: Being occupied and consumed by events yet to happen.
*After-burn: Assessing, evaluating and studying about things that have happened endlessly.


**Roulette Wheel Theory: Each one of us has a roulette wheel system in us. The roulette wheel starts spinning upon encountering an external or internal stimulus. Say it has a hundred stop points. An internal mechanism (controlled by the script of the person) determines at what slot the wheel will stop. It religiously stops at that number. The number determines the type of opinion, thinking, feeling, emotion, experience, self / other person view that will get activated and 'ruminated' till it reinforces the existing or chosen opinion, thinking, feeling, emotion or experience in a not-but fashion. So for every stimulus a standard response gets triggered. This is the roulette wheel theory.

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