Thinking Our Way to Success

DweezelJazz — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 07:00:00 +0000

One of the most precious commodities we have in life is the ability to think. Our thoughts alone can give us tremendous freedom, regardless of our outer circumstances. They determine how we approach situations, how we make decisions; and this in turn directs and forms many of the circumstances we find ourselves in.Habitually following certain thought patterns can continually regenerate the same, or similar, unwanted results in our lives. If the thoughts are habitual it’s unlikely that we’ll recognize how they are affecting our outlook and responses. They can be so familiar to us that we consider them to be part of who we are, or how life is, and we can perceive them to be inherently unchangeable.We may rely on other people’s conclusions and experiences in forming our own. There are times when it’s important, even necessary for survival, to follow someone’s ideas and to do what they say.Social obligations demand that we follow a set of general predefined rules. But ideally these should be as limited as possible to maintain a positive social structure without greatly compromising the individual’s personal liberty, especially freedom of thought.It takes practice to identify and understand which thoughts are our own, and which ones have actually been formulated by our culture and social environment. Even when we are very young it is important to be encouraged to think for ourselves and experiment with finding out what happens when we make our own choices. It is possible to allow babies certain freedoms in which they gradually find their own strength. It’s unfair to dictate to or carry the young for any great length of time, because in doing so they are not being encouraged to trust in themselves and act on their own accord.Taking into consideration other people’s views allows us to add many new ideas to our own. The ability to weigh these in their relevance to our lives can accelerate the process of learning and identifying positive and helpful outlooks.Swimming with the crowd is a great time saver on some occasions.But, for a satisfying, fulfilling life we need to know when and how to be our own agents.Each person is unique, with their own particular set of interests and passions. In order to discover these fully we need to know our own thoughts and feelings. Once we know who we are by what we think and feel, we can find a way to express this in our lives. This is the first and most important step to real success.

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Thinking Our Way to Success