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Don't let other people run your life - grab the wheel!
"The economy is too tight."
"I don't have the skills to get that kind of job."
"It's just an illness I've learned to live with."
"He'll never change, so I've stopped caring."
"The world is so screwed up, there is nothing I can do."
Okay, these quotes aren't exactly coming from my personal consciousness, but I can't tell you I haven't had similar thoughts from time to time. We all do. Depending on where you live in the world, there is a good chance these are the kinds of thoughts you have grown up around, either in your family or your society at large.
Are they true?
Are ANY of them true?
Well, whether you believe them to be true or not - I guess that is really all the matters...right?
Do I believe them to be true? No! But, it can take a lot of conscious effort to stand my ground.
The truth is - all of these ideas (and similar ideas) slowly become a natural part of our belief system. It is what we are taught in school. It's what we hear on the news. It's part of a world where the generally believed thought is that there is good and bad, haves and have nots, abundance and poverty, sickness and health.
To me, it means that you're living on cruise control.
Living on cruise control means that we have stopped questioning our generally accepted beliefs that make us who we are, as well as the beliefs that make up the kind of world we live in. When we are on cruise control, we begin to let other people's thoughts and views shape who we are. We allow them to label our intelligence and abilities. We let them tell us how much we can achieve, and we allow them to paint the picture of how we view the world.
If you were an artist, would you let someone else paint your masterpiece?
Well, when we are on cruise control - that is exactly what we are doing.
Over time, even the subtlest labels or opinions can take root and shape thoughts. Kids today are taking standardized tests in 1st grade, even being tested younger, and then given an intelligence label that they will carry for the rest of their lives. Is this fair? Do I even remember the 1st grade?
The older you get - the more labels you receive - as if you're collecting badges for the Boy Scouts. "Okay Travis, you have earned your ADHD badge, it's not that big of a deal, it just means that you now must believe for the rest of your life that you cannot sit still and focus on one activity for any period of time. Now, go start a fire."
Sarcasm aside, how many of us are still carrying around a self-image that we didn't create?
So, isn't it time you clicked off cruise and put your hands back on the wheel? Shouldn't you be in charge of you? Other opinions and ideas are nice, but it's your masterpiece you are painting - so don’t use someone else's brush.
Now, you may be reading this and questioning whether or not you are accepting labels about yourself given to you by others. If so, take some time and write down things about yourself that you may not like, including qualities, labels, habits, emotions, etc. that you feel represent you. What does your list look like?
Do you like your list? If not - what would you ideal list look like?
This is not a goal - this is a starting point. This is who you are right now...RIGHT NOW! When you are in control, when you are fully present in the moment - past labels are powerless. They are an eternity ago. If you don't want to be impatient anymore, well be patient right now! If you don't want to be bitter anymore - be grateful right now! If you don't want to be ill anymore - be healthy right now!
Mary Baker Eddy, in her preface in Science and Health announced it was time to get off cruise control when she wrote, "The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the steppingstone to faith."
Get off cruise control and take conscious responsibility for the world you are creating RIGHT NOW!
If you're still on cruise control - where the heck are you cruising too? All the fun is in the journey, not the destination!
If you want some help getting your hands back on the wheel, give me a call or drop me an e-mail! Read and respond to this blogger at Travis Inc.
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