“Think twice before you speak, because your words
and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of
another.”
NLP (neurolinguistic programming) suggests that our words are extremely powerful in influencing behavior, as well as feelings - not only of the people who hear our words, but ourselves as well. If you say to Johnny, "You are lazy, you'll amount to no good," Johnny's attitude and feelings about himself will be influenced to match those words. But worse, your own feelings will be negatively affected by that commentary. This may seem curious, but in fact, observe your own emotions the next time you say something - positive or negative - to another person.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
History repeats itself
“ If history repeats itself, and the unexpected
always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.
”
People jealously defend their opinions. Their political positions are typically unchallengeable. As the quote above suggests, this only leads to more of the same. Why do we so ardently refuse to see the other point of view? Because it is threatening to our self-esteem. It threatens our sense of self. It challenges our image of who we are. It is ego. Even clear evidence cannot prevail against ego. Why? Because our limbic system is geared to self-preservation. And self-preservation means preserving not only our physical lives, but also our intellectual selves. Hence the reason for the gridlock in Washington. Hence the reason for misunderstandings overall. Once we understand the phenomenon, we can then allow ourselves to calmly listen to other points of view, and assess their merit dispassionately. This takes courage, because it may mean that we must acknowledge and accept another point of view, and that we might feel is an embarrassment, loss of face, capitulation. It is not. Acknowledging a point of view that makes sense comes from strength.
People jealously defend their opinions. Their political positions are typically unchallengeable. As the quote above suggests, this only leads to more of the same. Why do we so ardently refuse to see the other point of view? Because it is threatening to our self-esteem. It threatens our sense of self. It challenges our image of who we are. It is ego. Even clear evidence cannot prevail against ego. Why? Because our limbic system is geared to self-preservation. And self-preservation means preserving not only our physical lives, but also our intellectual selves. Hence the reason for the gridlock in Washington. Hence the reason for misunderstandings overall. Once we understand the phenomenon, we can then allow ourselves to calmly listen to other points of view, and assess their merit dispassionately. This takes courage, because it may mean that we must acknowledge and accept another point of view, and that we might feel is an embarrassment, loss of face, capitulation. It is not. Acknowledging a point of view that makes sense comes from strength.
Friday, October 19, 2012
“ Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. ” ― Voltaire
Have you ever required proof that God or goodness or dreams exist? Faith is based on non-provable phenomena. That's what marks it as faith. It is a state of mind, a serenity, an acceptance that some more powerful forces than ourselves exist in the universe. In effect, it is a mindset of humility, that we humans are not all powerful and all knowing. Having faith is said to be a virtue. Perhaps the virtue lies in the humility.
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