Just be yourself.
What does that even mean?
I was at work and one guy said to another, “Dude, that’s just the way I was raised!” to which the other replied, “Yeah, but do you really want to live the way you were raised?”
That made me think. Most parents are at an age and a stage in their lives (while they are raising little ones) when they are young and inexperienced. Not that they are bad parents! Most of them simply haven’t yet learned or experienced what they are about to for the next few decades as people. We are all doing the best we can for what we know and with all we have been through.
I read a quote on Facebook that said, “Your mom is so great at pushing all of your buttons because she knows exactly where they are. She installed those buttons.” That made me laugh out loud. How true. We all tend to pass our best onto our children, AND some of our worst.
20 years later, sometimes our best has become better and we have changed and evolved. Sometimes, even after 20 years, we have chosen to stay the same, and have chosen to keep operating within the exact same parameters of old teachings, and old programming. What parent wouldn’t want to go back in time, knowing all that they now know, and empower their children with even MORE knowledge, wisdom, experience, and strength? Most parents ALWAYS have it in the forefront of their minds to help their babies, AT ANY AGE, to optimize their lives in EVERY away. How beautiful that is.
When I was raised I thought I was being taught to do as I was told and question nothing. Parents from all over would ask my mother, “How can I make my children behave like that?” I was considered the Golden Child because I questioned nothing and always did as I was told. At that time in life, I didn’t rebel or act out. Eventually, when I moved out and started living my own life in my twenties, I had to start thinking for myself. I made a lot of “mistakes” and learned so much. I had to find myself. I had to re-create myself. I had to learn to think for myself. I fell on my face, over and over. I now see the value in questioning everything, experimenting with new beliefs and habits, and keeping only what works for me, personally.
RESULTS DON’T LIE. If we are unhappy with our current circumstances, WE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THEM.
We all have a choice. Either we can continue on into adulthood and our adult lives living as we were taught, believing what we were taught to, or we can question all our beliefs and decide on the ones we want to keep for ourselves, just like with The goodinthehead Beliefs Project. Google this project for empowering, life-altering, helpful ideas.
To THINK differently is nice, but unless we consistently DO differently, everything will stay the same.
We are capable of thinking ANYTHING we want to, at any given moment. Thought is a creation, and since we are consistently thinking, we are consistently CREATING. The thoughts we think the most, focus on most frequently, and spend the most time, energy, and attention on, eventually manifest themselves in the physical realm, in the form of ACTIONS and OUTCOMES.
I had a dream, in which my wife and I were going to pick up some food we had ordered. The place had been remodeled, and where we were to pick up the food was behind a door with a golden latch. As we went through the door, we were directed to a dark corner, where we waited to be helped. It was too dark for us to be noticed. In the pitch black was a counter and a window, waist-high, made of wood, where we could pick up our food. I rapped on the wooden counter with my knuckles, and spoke into the darkness: “We are here for our food. It’s kind of dark over here. I think you need a lamp, or something.” I laughed, nervously. An Indian man, with a smile, a belly, and long hair pulled up in a pony tail appeared, dressed in dark slacks and a colorful, button-up, short-sleeve shirt. He was talking to someone else in the darkness from where he had emerged, explaining the three secrets to manifesting ALL of our desires. We noticed that as he walked into the darkness before us that there was no source of light. HE was the source of light.
I asked him to repeat the three secrets of manifesting abundance. He quickly ran through his short story. I cannot remember his words. I only remember condensing it all with this question: “So if we VISUALIZE, BELIEVE, and FEEL GOOD ALL OF THE TIME, we can attract into our lives all that is needed, allowing the Universe to conspire on our behalf more effectively, making a potentially long and painful life journey into a very fast and enjoyable result or outcome?”
The man’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief that I had immediately understood the meaning and purpose behind the story. “Yes! YES!”
Then I awoke. I immediately wrote down the interpretation of the story before my dream faded and I forgot the three keys to unlocking the doors to manifesting abundance.
We can decide to cast off the beliefs we believe to be harmful or unhelpful to us, or we can keep believing the same things, repeating the same behaviors, feeling the same ways, doing the same things, and living out the results of the same lives.
RESULTS DON’T LIE.
If we look in the mirror, or we take an honest look at our lives, and we don’t like what we see, we can choose to change. We can choose to begin creating something and someone greater than we now behold. We were programmed with the ability to construct a belief system that will help us be the best possible version of ourselves we can possibly be every day for the rest of our lives. It is by doing so that we change, grow, evolve, and experience the happiness that comes by doing so.
Our gift to the world is giving the best of ourselves we can in each moment! This is what creates happiness and beauty and the exact life we deserve.
When we consistently do our best, our best consistently becomes better.
I think that this is what, “Be yourself” means. Be your BEST self, at all times. That is enough. It always will be.
Today I will question everything. I will start a list of my beliefs and decide which ones are effective and helpful and which ones are not. I will do the best I can at being the best version myself, instead of what everyone else expects and wants me to be. Today I will be my best self that I can possibly be and I will make that a HABIT. I will remember that it is enough, and that so am I. I am enough simply being me and doing my best.
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Remember: Mindset matters. Character counts. That which we choose to consistently focus on is what EXPANDS in our lives. WE CREATE our personal realities.