In the Beginning
For every journey, there’s a
starting point – and this looks like as good of a place as any to begin. To get us going, here are four “Truths” that
I believe can help transport any of us from where we are today to a more
productive, enjoyable lifestyle.
1. The stuff we’ve learned
so far in our little lives has led us right to where we are today – as good,
bad or indifferent as it may be.
2. The more we know about
why we are the way we are, the better our chances for making some super
improvements in our lives.
3. The more we can back off
from our day-to-day survival mode of living to see if we can at least catch a
glimpse of the “big picture”, the better our chances are of understanding
ourselves, of appreciating this great creation we’re a part of – and of really
beginning to enjoy life.
4. The more we can open our
mind to the infinite possibilities life has to offer, the better our chances
are of…well, see previous #3.
OK, enough of the
numbering/list silliness. I’m sure you
have the idea. Let me make one major
point before we go any further. The
intent of this material is not to persuade anyone to do anything differently
than they have been doing all along. Really! (Trust me..?) The whole purpose for doing this is to encourage folks to just
take the time to THINK – about stuff they don’t normally think about – and in
the process maybe LEARN some really cool stuff that actually can make their
lives easier and more fun. I know that
what I’m writing has – and is – working for me. Will it work for you too?
Probably, but who knows…
Yeah, I know. This is a really sucky motivational
technique, but frankly, I’d rather be up front (honest) than try to blow smoke
up your collective rears and attempt to convince you that this is the greatest
concept since sex. I think you’re
probably all too smart for that (OK, with maybe a few exceptions, but I’d still
rather be honest).
I’ve been reading, studying
and thinking about the “Truths” listed above for a long time. Here’s the way it worked out. About 20 years ago (after diligent study), I
started to feel that I had a pretty good handle on why I was the way I was –
and what life was all about. Around 15
years ago, I knew I was getting pretty darned smart. Ten years ago, I was sure I was an expert. Five years ago, I knew it all and was ready
to take my esteemed knowledge to the world (for a nominal fee, of course). Now…right now…I am thoroughly convinced that
I don’t know Diddley Squat. (There’s
that sucky motivational technique again.
Dang…)
That’s also just happens to
be one of life’s premier lessons. As we
mature and learn, we realize that all of the “facts” of life that we have
stored in our little brain are frequently not so much facts as just
possibilities. And thankfully, learning
that then enables us to open our minds to a wonderful, fascinating world filled
with other possibilities that we had never before considered. As a result, I’m passing along some of
these “possibilities’ in the off chance that it might help someone out and
maybe help make his/her life a little more enjoyable.
Hopefully as we go down the
road, you’ll find a few things that can help you do whatever you want to
do. Oh yeah, one more thing. Don’t take yourself and any of this stuff
too seriously. Life’s too short for
that. And besides, too much thinkin’
can turn your brain to mush – and none of us have all that much extra gray
matter that we can afford to squander it away…
To get us started, here’s a
quick review (or maybe for some of you, some brandy new info/concepts) of just
why the heck we are the way we are. Why
we think and act the way we do. Why is
this important? Because if we don’t
know how we got to be the way we are, there ain’t any way in hell we’re going
to be able to open up our pea brains to get the information we could use to
help make any changes in the way we do things so our lives will be better and
maybe a little more enjoyable.
First of all, we all know
that it is our parents/caregivers fault that we are the way we are. I know of folks who have become really good
at carrying this concept to the extreme.
They have managed to slog their way through life in a victim mode (the
old “woe-is-me” syndrome) without taking a lick of responsibility for any of
their thoughts or actions. Too bad
‘cause things aren’t apt to get any better for them unless they do some quick
learnin’.
Not that these good people
are 100% wrong. Our genetic composition
that has been so carefully constructed (or not) complements of our egg supplier
and sperm donor in hopefully a heat of semi-frenzied passion (how’s that for a
new picture of Mom & Dad?) has provided the foundation for our physical and
physiological characteristics including our brain assembly and
functioning. Their actions and words
toward (or just around) us provided the initial programming for our thought
patterns and the resulting responses/reactions to the subsequent events in our
lives.
The rest of our mental
programming is mostly the result of environmental influences (everything
that we’ve seen, heard, touched, smelled or tasted) from that time on. We’ve managed to use most of this input to
reinforce the concepts and thinking patterns that were established in our
younger years. I’ve heard that our
values, etc. are pretty well set before we hit the teenage years. Good chance that for most of us this is
about right.
Does this mean that all the
information we’ve received has been complete, accurate, unbiased or even
useful? Heck no! Some of it has even been downright
detrimental and self-limiting. And that
applies to just about every single one of us no matter how great our childhood
and formative years appear to have been.
The end result of our
genetics, experiences and life-long programming (or establishment of mental
filters if that thought is more comfortable to you) is that we all are the
proud possessors of our own personal values, beliefs, thought patterns and
techniques for dealing with the events in our lives. Some of this stuff works fine and as a result our lives are pretty
cool and in general, quite enjoyable.
Some of it doesn’t work as well and our lives are generally pretty
sucky. Cool or sucky, one thing that
you can about put money on is the rigidity of our programming. It’s one of those “By dang, I am the way I am
and I’m darned well gonna stay that way!”
The only way for us to get
out of our rut so that we can move on toward the life we’d really like to enjoy
is to change our thinking habits. It’s
time to step away, even for just a few minutes, from the pressures of our daily
lives to think about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it – and to think about
if this is the way we really want the remainder our lives to be. Worth doing, don’tcha think?
NuPathz Home Back to Articles Contents
NuPathz.com – Your affordable source for self improvement and self help books & materials
Illuminating the path for personal motivation, growth and development
SUCCESS = TAKING THE STEPS TO DO THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO!
JUST GO FOR IT!