Socratic Life

I Really like this article.

Have you ever tried to challenge yourself by thinking differently?

…Relative question.

Have you ever tried to challenge your thought activity?

Really look at it and say. Hmmmmmmmm…………

What else is there?

Rather than getting deep into the emotional energy of the situation, I reminded myself of the acceptance principal, and decided that it would be better to use my energy to mold a better and more positive future….

Through positive meditation I have found myself more able to decide what is going to happen next. Remember.. It isn’t what happens to you, it is what you are doing in response to the outside stimulus.

If you think about it, acceptance is a major part of happiness. As you accept “things” as they are you may find yourself relieved of the tension of judgments, frustrations, irritations and anxieties. From a very basic concept we can see why this may be a little difficult to get use to. The rate of speed at which our lives are hard boosted forward with the technologies, processes, tools and compromises, can in itself tell the story of LOUDER, FASTER, BRIGHTER, HARDER, MORE!!!

Take some time to realign your mind with your spirit. Open a window and breathe some fresh air, accept “things” for what they really are.

This article is from the blog of Steven Aitchison. I would recommend subscribing to his rss feed.

It can be extremely difficult to focus on the good when, seemingly, bad things are happening in your life. However you can train your mind to focus on the good things in your life rather than dwelling on the bad. No it’s not one of those positive thinking articles that you’ve read all over the web and are sick and tired of. This is about changing the way you think, changing your thinking pattern. Do you use any of these thinking patterns in your day to day life?
8 limiting patterns of thinking

1. ‘Life is shit’ Thinking pattern –Everything in life is bad, everybody is not to be trusted and nothing good will ever happen to them e.g. “I won’t get that job, the interviewer didn’t like me, I didn’t particularly like them anyway.”
2. ‘Unsubstantiated conclusive’ Thinking pattern– You tend to make a lot of conclusions without any evidence to back up your conclusions. This can be a really destructive pattern as it can limit you in seeing reality for what it is e.g. “He walks a bit funny, he must be gay.” (I actually heard someone saying this about a colleague last week).
3. ‘Never to me’ Thinking pattern – This is when you think nothing good will ever happen to you. This can be a deep seated way of thinking and it is a deep down inability to believe you are worthy of anything good happening to you e.g. “I’ll never have money, I’ve never had it before so I’ll never have it in the future, might as well carry on with this shitty job, at least it pays the mortgage.”
4. ‘The negative psychic’ Thinking pattern – Presuming you know what people are thinking about you and it’s all bad. e.g. “She thinks I’m an idiot, I’ll try to avoid talking to her.”
5. ‘Should, would, could’ Thinking pattern – This type of person knows what they have to do to change their life, they are capable and they know it and they would do it if only……… e.g. “I know I could go to university and I would, but I’m just to busy with other things right now, I’ll apply next year.”
6. ‘Emotion based’ Thinking pattern – Your emotions control what you are thinking and therefore your vision of what reality is e.g. “I feel incapable of doing that so I must be incapable”.
7. ‘It’s all my fault’ Thinking pattern – You see yourself as being the cause of everything bad that has happened e.g. “It’s my fault he left me for another woman.” You’ll notice this type of person does not take responsibility for the good things that happen.
8. ‘They’re all wrong’ Thinking pattern – You see everyone as incapable of doing anything right and your way is the best way to do it e.g. “He can’t do it right, I’ll stay late tonight and fix it when he’s gone.”

These are just some of the common thinking patterns I have come across in my life and I have used some of them myself, I used to use mix the ‘Never to me’ and ‘The negative psychic’ thinking patterns about everything, “She’ll never go out with me she thinks I’m an idiot.” I made a conscious effort to change what I believed about myself and what I believed about the world and it has literally changed my life.

How to change the destructive thinking patterns

The first stage of changing is to recognise the problem – You will find a lot of people in life who just don’t think there is a problem so there is no need to change. If this is you then do nothing. If you want to change you must think there is a need and you will start to recognise what things need to change and it usually starts with your perception of life. Everybody’s perception of life is different, therefore everyone’s reality is different. I don’t live in the same world as you and you don’t live in the same world as me. That might sound a strange concept to some people, but think about it for a few minutes, it could change the way you see the world. I’ll give you an example:

In 2004 I took a redundancy package from my place of employment and received about £10,000 for my troubles, not a lot at all when I was earning £25,000 a year when I left. I was speaking to my friend about it and he thought I was absolutely nuts to do it, especially since I was married with two children. I explained to him how free I felt and what plans I had to start an online book dealing business and my wife was right behind me. He still thought I was crazy. My perception of the world was one of opportunity, life was great and I was free from the rat race for a while and I would get to see my wife and children a lot more than I had, I was ecstatic and if it didn’t work out I had a lot of skills to offer another employer. My friends perception was one of doom and gloom, he needed the security of a full time job even though he hated it and was working 12 hours per day. It turns out I worked at it for 1 year made a good profit but gave it up due to a huge downturn in business. At the end of it I was still optimistic as I knew I was good enough to get another job until I could do something else.

Everybody’s view of the world is different and it all comes down to the thinking patterns you use in your daily life. If you think life is wonderful you will notice the wonderful things in your life, if you think life is shit you will find shit things about life. Change your thoughts and you literally change the world you are living in. First you have to recognise your destructive thinking pattern.

The second stage is to be aware of when you are using the destructive thinking patterns – We can employ different thinking patterns depending on what we are doing in life. For example you could use a positive thinking pattern at work as you are very confident in your ability and yet use a destructive one when it comes to looking for love. Recognising when you use destructive thinking patterns can help you to change that pattern. Now that you have recognised when you use the destructive thinking patterns it is now time to change it.

The third stage is to replace the bad with the good – This is something that you don’t do immediately. You don’t say to yourself ‘I’ll never be able to do that”, which is you old thinking pattern, to “Oh yes I can”. That won’t work. You have to let the old pattern die slowly whilst slowly introducing your new improved thinking pattern. Here an example:

You are out in a club and you want to talk to someone you are attracted to. Your thoughts are “ She’ll never talk to me, she’s gorgeous.” You will immediately recognise this pattern of thinking and tell yourself something good about yourself e.g. “I’m good at _______(FILL IN THE BLANK), it can be anything. This will not immediately help your situation but it will slowly begin to change your old destructive thinking pattern with a new one.

This stage takes place over time and is not done immediately. The best time to change a destructive thinking pattern is to let it run it’s course and slowly replace it with a thinking pattern that is better for you. I know people want a microwave life, stick it in the micro and it’s ready in 3 minutes, your life is not like that and you cannot change in 1 day, unless something drastic happens.
You can work on more than 1 destructive thinking pattern at a time.

To recap

To change your thinking pattern you have to

Recognise
Be aware
Slowly change and introduce a new thinking pattern
Keep working on all your destructive thinking patterns

Change your life with your new way of thinking

Recognising and changing your way of thinking can be a long process depending on what patterns of thinking you employ and how badly you want to change. People can change, do change and change for the rest of their lives, I know I have, so don’t be thinking you’ll never be able to change, you can and you will if you really want to.

After a few months you will see a huge difference in your life and you will want to use your new way of thinking to good effect. You will start to notice new types of people enter into your life who can help you reach the goals you have in life and in turn you will help them reach their goals, don’t worry about how just now.
Take time to think about your goals and take the time often to do this. I take time every day to think about where I want to be in life and slowly but surely it happens. Personally I find it better in the morning to really think about my goals and then again at night just before I am falling asleep. It works for me but you will have to experiment a little to find your way of thinking about your goals.

BY BOYD CRAIG, PRESIDENT, AMERICA’S FREEDOM FESTIVAL AT PROVO 2007

Things were not going well for the the Union army. With July 1862 came a call from President Abraham Lincoln lnto the governors of the northern states for 300,000 more volunteers. Convinced that the very existence of the United States hung in the balance, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a promising young rhetoric professor at Bowdoin College,wrote to the Governor of Maine and offered his service:

In pursuance of the offer of reinforcements for the war, I ask if your Excellency desires and will accept my service. . . . But, I fear, this war, so costly of blood and treasure, will not cease until the men of the North are willing to leave good positions, and sacrifice the dearest personal interests, to rescue our Country from desolation, and defend the National existence against treachery at home and jealousy abroad. This war must be ended, with a swift and strong hand; and every man ought to come forward and ask to be placed at his proper post. Governor Washburn accepted his offer. Though chamberlain knew little of soldiering, he quickly rose through the ranks. His most defining hour came as commander of the Union’s 20th Maine Company on Little Round Topin the Battle of Gettysburg. His orders were to hold firm the extreme left of the Union line and to prevent the Confederate army from flanking them. His company bravely held the line until, at last, they ran out of ammunition. Refusing to give way, he paused in silent reflection, then called forth the order, “Fix bayonets!” The entire line followed his lead, rose up in a shout, and with fixed bayonets, rushed the approaching army in an all-out attack.

Stunned by the fearsome sight, the enemy’s front line threw down their arms and surrendered. Swinging forward with an extended “right wheel,” the 20th Maine went on to break the second line, eventually overtaking, killing, or capturing the entire attacking regiment that vastly outnumbered them.

Many are convinced that this victory of raw courage on Little Round Top was the turning point for the North’s victory at Gettysburg and the CivilWar. One person. One volunteer.

Modem-day “Little Round Tops” surround us-crises in our families, in our neighborhoods and communities, in our schools, in our nation, and beyond. Calls to volunteer may not come from governors and presidents; but they do come as calls of conscience to action. The challenge to “hold the line” at all costs in the face of relentless opposition is no different. But the true crisis will not be triggered by a lack of “ammunition.” More likely is it to come by inaction, by small circles of concern limited to “me and mine,” by numbness to need, by leaving the job to government and institutions.

We welcome the coming season of national celebration. Independence Day is a time for family gathering, fun, and fireworks-a time to honor all who, like Chamberlain, have offered their service and lives in defense of liberty. It’s a time to acknowledge and express gratitude to God for the blessings of freedom.

Come and enjoy the many events of America’s Freedom Festival-all dedicated to celebrating our freedom and liberty. May we also reflect on what life is “calling out to us” to do with that freedom-and then volunteer. Reach out. “Adopt” a troubled teen. Affirm a child’s worth and potential. “Adopt”a cause. Give a regular portion of your time to meet a great need. Such service, given freely,is one of the hallmarks of a great America. As Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain put it, “No sacrifice or service of mine requires any other reward than that which conscience gives to every man who does his duty.”

I really enjoyed this article because it reminds me of the need to be a better person, love those around you and strive to serve God and Country.

Now, I don’t read minds… But if I had to guess what the majority of Americans are thinking today, I would say that it is this, “How can I get what I want faster, cheaper and easier?”

Just look at how we communicate with each other when we are at work, driving a car or waiting for the bus. Man… I hate waiting. We are an instant gratification society. This is obvious through our disinterest of each other and our intellectually inquisitive sleepiness.

Ask yourself, when was the last time that you actually questioned what you do every day? Why do you drive the same route every single time to the grocery store? Why do you buy the same gas from the same gas station? Why do you buy the same brand of toothpaste every single time?

You may think not, but this is where it starts. That nagging feeling that you are doing the same thing over and over again without thinking about it. You are living habitually. We all do this at one time or another. You know, those times that you are driving and you get home and you think to yourself… “I don’t remember how in the world I got here.” We ingrain our daily living habits so far into our minds that we can practically do them without thinking.

What does this have to do with anything? Great question! In order to truly understand ourselves, we have to understand why we do things. How do we get better? How do I improve myself? Where do I go from here? How do I get to where I want to be?

These are the questions that we want to be asking ourselves. You see, when we get stuck in the habits of daily living, we are not fully awake. We are sleepwalkers in life. However, we can wake ourselves up by asking ourselves who we want to be. What is in our way of getting there? Why are we satisfied with mundane and simple crumbs of life, when we could be eating a feast?

I want to say hello to you as we start this journey into the rest of our lives. I hope that we can start today asking ourselves who we want to become.