Some characteristics of rackets:
A racket is something that is unwanted yet persists in your life.
A racket constrains your freedom to be and your freedom to act.
A racket often presents itself as a repeated complaint.
The complaint can reveal itself as about being some way, or about doing something, or having something that is also present from time to time.
A racket is a front designed to conceal payoffs that are happening behind the front. It is a front designed to make “the business in the back” seem legitimate and justifiable.
A racket is some sort of loss or struggle for a person. It looks like it is unavoidable and thus legitimate and justifiable. However, the loss or struggle is only kept in place to conceal payoffs for the person.
A racket is fundamentally inauthentic. The loss or struggle is not authentic.
We will often have “seemingly genuine attempts” to resolve the racket but they always find a way to fail.
A racket is accompanied by a story that occurs repeatedly about the way things shouldn’t be. This story is designed to explain, justify, and legitimize the persistence of what is unwanted.
This story you have occurs to you as fact or truth (you don’t realize it is just a story).
Running a racket has you acting in a predictable and repetitive manner (like being frustrated, annoyed, suspicious, nice, or accommodating, over and over again).
A racket is something you particularly run when you feel as if you are dealing with a situation that occurs to you as threatening.
A racket is kept in place ONLY to conceal a payoff.
It is NOT about cause and effect - i.e. that something else caused you to respond a certain way. There is just your reaction. Take responsibility for YOUR reaction.
Rackets are triggered by real or perceived threats to something you identify with.
Rackets are not bad.
When your racket is unknown to you - it runs you.
Major Payoffs of a Racket:
Be right/Avoid being wrong
Dominate/Avoid domination
Win/Avoid losing
Justify yourself/Invalidate others
Major Prices of a Racket:
Affinity/Love
Vitality/Well-Being
Self-Expression
Satisfaction/Fulfillment