Tag Archives for " mind "
Have you ever allowed yourself to do something that you really should not have?
The human mind is a wonderful thing, however, it can work against you if you allow it to.
Is can be beneficial to understand how this can happen so you can prevent it, keeping yourself out of undesirable situations.
Last week, in my family we experienced a situation that is a good example of how the mind can lead us astray – if we let it.
My youngest daughter came to a point of thinking something was OK to do, when it was not.
It appears that her path of thought was supported more by her desire to do something rather than all the facts.
She justified, in her mind, that certain things occurred in ways that supported her desire.
The mind can do this easily.
This allowed her to make decisions that further supported what she wanted.
It’s a normal function of the mind that it tries to find solutions that support our desires – this is how we grow, develop and fully experience our life.
You may have noticed how your mind may attempt to circumvent your values in an attempt to take the shortest route to producing your desire.
You support this line of thinking when you take a small step allowing your mind to guide you to think something is acceptable now when previously it was not.
It’s usually a small step, but then another small step, and another and so on.
And you will find yourself doing something you shouldn’t.
This is where you may say something to yourself like;
“It will be OK this time”, or
“They didn’t tell me not to”, or
“But I really want this”, or
“Who will know”, or
“Just this once”, or
You may recall some of your own.
Here is where you need to be in command, to temper the minds tendency to give you what you want- no matter what.
This is an opportunity for you to solidify your standards and principles.
Every time you stop your mind from taking the shortest route to give you what you want, you strengthen the position of your values.
Even when you think you have developed habits that are based on your principles, still be on the watch for what you are doing.
Keep monitoring your thoughts and actions, your unconscious mind can slip into finding the easiest way to accomplish your desires without telling you – that’s how it’s built.
Don’t take for granted that you are all set with your thinking.
Change is constant with new and different circumstances coming before you that need your interpretation.
Continue to filter everything through your principles.
Justification is just a convenient way to circumvent your principles in order to get what you want.
Justification turns off the filtering mechanism you use to interpret what you do.
Vigilant thought management is the key.
John
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your
words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.” — Anonymous
“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way.” — Heraculitus
“The character ethic, which I believe to be the foundation of success, teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.” — Stephen Covey
“Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything.” — Walt Whitman
Asking yourself questions is one of the best ways to get an answer.
Well, yes – that statement is obvious – but do you really get it?
Follow me here a minute – –
How many times do you let something undesirable continue to go on and on?
Why is this?
Part of the reason is that you may allow yourself to stew over something and replay the distasteful aspects over and over.
This mental activity does not support doing anything productive to find a solution or termination of the situation.
It actually just perpetuates or even enhances it.
I’ll bet you can easily think about some situations where you.
So, think again about situations where you have moved through into a solution or beneficial outcome.
What did you do to get to this point?
You asked yourself questions – didn’t you.
This may still seem too basic to you – what is he getting at?
OK, you move on with some change by asking yourself a question.
Why did this happen?
Who did this?
What do I do now?
How can I fix this?
You get the idea.
Aren’t movement, understanding and change always based on a question?
The point I am making here is that you will stay repeating the same thoughts and actions until you ask a question.
So then this leads to the fact that the beneficial outcome is based on the kind of questions you ask yourself.
Questions that probe deeper and deeper are the ones that are most valuable.
Questions that are bases on continually asking a question and being aware of the various answers you receive.
Questions that carry on from an answer you get.
Questions that continue to ask why – again and again – not just stopping at the first answer.
The quality of the outcome is directly related to the quality of the questions you ask.
This is related to a very basic concept – that there is always a new idea coming out of an existing one.
One idea leads to another.
Think about it – when you get an understanding about something, there are now new possibilities available that weren’t before.
The key here is that asking a question is the way that you seek that next understanding that builds upon the previous idea.
If you don’t ask – you remain with what you have.
Your unconscious mind may tend to resist this kind of probing questions if you are not accustomed to doing this.
Your mind will tend to just want to repeat what it has been doing.
This is where you will need to exercise your command over your thinking ability.
Learning to step aside from a situation to purposefully ask yourself questions with the purpose of developing new perspectives and understandings is a very valuable skill.
This stepping aside, quieting your chattering mind and asking questions is a skill that must be practiced frequently if you are to get it to be a normal part of your behavior.
You can only override your existing habitual ways of thinking by developing a new pattern.
One idea leads to another – and another, and so on.
Keep asking questions and you will find that you will get more and more appropriate and useful answers revealed to you.
You will learn to be receptive to more answers that come from your inner self and universal intelligence.
Be open to the feelings and varying ways answers are conveyed to you.
This is growth in action.
. . . On purpose.
John
“Every clarification breeds new questions.” — Arthur Bloch
“Asking the proper question is the central action of
transformation… Questions are the key that cause the secret
doors of the psyche to swing open.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“The answers you receive depend upon the questions you ask.” — Thomas Kuhn
“Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” — Albert Einstein
“The word question is derived from the Latin quarrier (to seek) which is the same root as the word for quest. A creative life is a continued quest, and good questions can be very useful guides.
Most useful are open-ended questions; they allow for fresh
unanticipated answers to reveal themselves.” — Source Unknown
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” — Decouvertes
Take a look at what you have been doing and thinking for the last few hours or day.
Are you supporting what you want in your life or are you caught up in hectic reactive behavior?
Of course there are many things which you must do,
But in order to enjoy more of what you want,
You must gradually insert it into your life – yourself.
Ask yourself,
How could I have done things a little differently?
What can I do now, and tomorrow that will bring in a little more of what I want into my day?
Come up with a simple plan of how you will do it.
Schedule it in, go over in your mind what and how,
Use reminder notes, set your watch or phone alarm as a reminder,
Whatever you can use to jog yourself out of the routine just enough to insert a little something different.
Change is usually done little by little more often than through a big event,
Yet we tend to hope for the big event.
While you are waiting you can do it a little at a time and before you know it – you are there!
Checking up on yourself everyday is a good way to discover what to change and how do go about it.
Come up with a balance of doing what is necessary along with a continuous process of growth.
The growth part can very easily slip away, getting consumed by all that you think you need to do in a day.
The power of the human mind is in the ability to exert command over your thinking and what you do.
Choose to step in and be the director of your behavior.
Enjoy the discovery,
John