Did you make any choices today? You probably made “zillions” of them if you counted them all. Are you free to make your own choices? You want to be, don’t you? Therefore, get comfortable with insisting you make your own choices and also get comfortable with believing you must own the consequences that come with your choices. Freedom comes with responsibilities.
Freedom requires free choice and responsibility
Is that good advice? Or are you comfortable with the belief that you are a puppet and your brain is pulling the strings? Are you, unfortunately, a creature without the gift of free choice that you thought you had? Well, it would be a great relief to believe that when you make a really dumb choice. But what about when that person you have fallen in love with asks you, “Did you or your brain’s chemicals choose me?” You had better have the right answer to that one! You will own the consequences of your answer.
I was watching an actress playing the part of a girl who could not feel satisfied with romantic advances from someone who did not want to commit to a relationship. She burst out with, “We are not an item. There is no ‘us’!” Smart girl! When it comes to love, we can’t live with less than the knowledge that someone has chosen us above all others, right?
Are you willing to own the consequences for ALL of your choices?
Get hooked on the idea that you are responsible for all — not some — of your choices. You’ll make better choices if you do. so will I. That’s real truth about life that none of us can live and love well without. If you are a teen, believe you are responsible for your grades and accept the fact that you must want to be responsible for them, because they are the measure by which you are choosing to do the work you need to do to learn well. Results and consequences are important tools that the university of life provides — whether we are pleased with them or not.
Fail to own the consequences and you are a loser!
It is essential to understand that anything short of this is the thinking of a loser. People who achieved great things began with the belief that they, and they alone, were fully responsible for the results of their choices and actions.
Freedom to choose is only meaningful for humans if we are willing to accept the results of our choices and learn from them. So let’s realize that human experiences are very important fields of knowledge. Learn something from them every day. For many, a journal written at the end of a day in which they search for the day’s lessons and learn from their experiences can be their most formative tool. At least do it in your mind if not on paper. Try it!
In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans. You can get your copy HERE. (Psst! Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)
Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are. Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth. Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help. If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.
THE WAY TO HAVE A HEALTHY MENTAL SYSTEM
Weekly Help for Your Mind/Brain
This weekly addition to my articles provides practical guidance for the application of commonly known facts about brain health.
Mental Exercise
To a large degree, we are in charge of what our mind does and does not do. In the articles ahead we are going to think again about caring for it by how we use it, and how we can take advantage of its challenges. As a result, we can make it contribute to our health and its own wellbeing by creating a helpful lifestyle. How? By good sleep, managing stress, and supplying its social needs using technology, too, and more.
So, let’s start with its use.
What we don’t use we lose, and this applies to our brain and our mind equally.
- Use your brain to develop it. Fail to use it and it will not serve you well. Sounds obvious, but this is where many people make their big mistake in life. Using our brain and challenging it develops our mind’s capabilities. Absent physical damage or genetic abnormalities, we all have been given equally effective brains and minds. The difference from one person to another is how they have developed or not developed their capabilities. Make your brain work and struggle. When you can’t remember something, force it. Relax it. Return to the lost thought again and again until you make your brain recall what you have seemingly lost.
- Challenge your brain with difficult tasks. Struggle to learn. Don’t just be satisfied with what you will learn from an average exposure to the experiences of life. Learn things that you find hard to understand and hard to remember or figure out. There are plenty of puzzles to challenge your mind. Suggestion: Learn a new language, game, academic discipline, etc.
Follow the example of the 95-year-old lady who graduated at 95 with another degree!