Friday 16 February 2018

February 16, 2018 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   Words are very powerful.  If you don’t believe me, please whatever you do, DON’T think of a purple elephant with bright pink polka dots.  I mean it, DON’T think of a purple elephant with bright pink polka dots.  Seriously, DON’T think of a purple elephant with bright pink polka dots. 

   I bet the first thing that popped into your mind, when you read those words was some form or image of a purple elephant with bright pink polka dots. 

   Even though I specifically put the word “don’t” in front of the statement, you still did it.  That is because our minds, with their ability to focus and filter, hone straight in on the more concrete “what” in our statements - whether spoken, written, or just thought - and not the “action” part, as it were.

   Yet, how many of us - in conversation with others and, even more often, internally with ourselves - use phrases along the lines of:
            - I can’t stop worrying about…
            - If I only didn’t have so much…
            - I wish I wasn’t so...

   And, like our minds are designed to do, they completely ignore the first part of the statement or thought - the part I have typed out - and latch onto the part represented by the “…”

   Those with a more sceptical outlook will disagree, but just look around you, and at the situations you are in, and your relationships.  Do you mostly see what you “want” in your life, or what you “don’t want?” 

   If you are like the vast majority of the population, you will probably see a lot of what you say you don’t want, and then you’ll follow whatever latest self-help fad is out there to bring about a change, only to abandon it, after a few short weeks, when nothing seems to be changing.


   In order to change the conditions, the “what” in your life, you need to change the words you are using.  As with any habit, you can’t just eliminate what you don’t want, you need to replace it with more of what you do want, one word at a time, with gratitude.

Beth


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