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Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words.

Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions.

Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits.

Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values.

Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.

— Mahatma Gandhi[1]

Our feelings, thoughts, and responses to life have a great deal to do with the conditions in which we were raised, the locations in which we grew up, the channels of knowledge we received, and the beliefs of the people who raised us.

From before you can even remember, you have been making thousands of decisions and choices, many of which you were not aware of making, but following, or doing out of habit, or by not thinking, or choosing by lack of a specific desire. Every one of your decisions—both those you were aware of making, and those you were not aware of making—come into play every day of your existence. From birth, you they indoctrinate you with decisions and choices based primarily on someone else’s direction, opinion, desire, belief, need, or pressure.

Most mammals emerge from the womb like glazed earthenware emerging from a kiln—

any attempt at remolding will only a scratch or break them.

Humans emerge from the womb like molten glass from a furnace.

Humans can be molded and shaped with surprising freedom.

—Yuval Harari, Author, Sapiens[2]

Through education, politics, religion, culture, and other institutions, from childhood, they mold us into Christians or Buddhists, Capitalists or Socialists, Revolutionaries or Peace Seekers—and so on. Without realizing it, we are products of our conditioning. What we perceive to be normal or true is a product of our history and upbringing, and these perceptions influence our decisions and actions every day.

Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.

— Wayne Dyer[3]

I like to rephrase Mr. Dyer’s quote:

If you change the way you look at things, you will change the way you see.

An online survey asked, “What’s the first thing you notice about someone you see for the first time, when seeing them from a distance?” The overwhelming response was, “appearance.” When asked what the second thing is, the majority answered, “the way they carried themselves and if they seemed approachable, or not, from a personal safety standpoint.”

A man entered a subway with his two children and sat staring ahead in a daze, as if lost in deep thought. His two children were running everywhere, loud, and unruly. After some time, an annoyed passenger approached the man and said, “Excuse me, could you please tend to your children? They are disturbing the other passengers.” The man looked up at him and said, “I’m sorry, they just lost their mother. Cancer. They don’t know how to deal with it.”

We see people from the viewpoint of our perceptions of them, which are based on everything they have taught us, without knowing that we are not seeing them in their complete, true beingness. Most times, that which we perceive is not the reality. Based on experiences, the passenger thought the children were unruly and the man was a bad parent. They base perceived reality on the limited, incomplete, and/or false knowledge, beliefs, and data. Our perceptions of everyone and everything outside of us are all based on our reality—our learned beliefs, experiences, and expectations from them—though we believe we are being aimed to see factual reality. Our perceived reality is the frame through which we see and explain the world.

We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.

― Anaïs Nin[4]

One of the biggest thoughts that block our growth, peace, and happiness is the reasoning that, “It’s always been this way, so we need not change it.”

We need to change. We need to ask ourselves: “Why? Why do I see things this way? Why do I react this way? Why do I act this way?” “Why do I say these things?”

Here is a simple exercise to help you:

Answer as honestly as you can.

Did you choose your profession based on your own perception of it? Was it because you thought it would provide stability, or esteem, or some quality that you believed would be necessary or valuable? Or was your decision a result of discussions with one or more parents, counselors, experts, or friends, and their perceptions of it? Did you decide based on other’s perceptions, wishes, or offers? Or did you choose it purely from your own thoughts and desires?

Did you marry or enter a relationship with someone of the same religious affiliation? If so, did you choose that person? Or were you following the family’s tradition, desires, or direction? Or was your choice not influenced by religion at all?

Are you living in a location, dwelling, city, state, or country that you chose? Or are you living in a location out of financial or other necessity? Or are you living somewhere out of someone else’s desire, influence or requirement, or to be in proximity to a person, family, or group of people? Are you living in a location for the pure and simple reason that you liked it and desired to live there?

Have you attended a college, university, or educational institution? Whether yes, or no—is it because you chose to, or chose not to? Was the choice yours, or was it made under the request or influence of someone else, or to make someone happy?

Are you deciding based on someone else’s opinion, request, need, or demand? Or are you deciding based on your own desires, knowledge, or preferences?

Three men were building a wall at a beautiful church. When asked what he was doing, the first replied, “I’m stacking these stones.” The second man answered, “I’m building a wall.” The third man declared, “I’m helping to create a magnificent place for people to find comfort and peace.” Three different men doing the same task have three different perceptions of what they were doing. Only one knew why.

Which one is most like you? Why?

Which one is like the “You” you are becoming? In what way?

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly.

When people see more things as good, other things become bad.

— Tao de Chang

Chapter 2 Verse 12[5]

I’ve written another article that you might like. You can read it here:

IN THE END ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHAT YOU DO

If you have enjoyed this article, please visit me at www.JosephBinning.com for more helpful tips and articles.

You can also get more helpful information in my book You Matter, even if you don’t think so which you can purchase on Amazon here Amazon You Matter, even if you don’t think so

For my free report Happiness Is A Choice click here: Happiness Is A Choice Free Report

Remember: Happiness is a choice, so be happy.

[1] AZ Quotes.com/Quotes/Authors/M/ Mahatma Gandhi/ https://www.azquotes.com/quote/453692

[2] Dreamflesg.com/reviews/Sapiens A Brief History of Mankind/ https://dreamflesh.com/review/book/sapiens/#:~:text=Most%20mammals%20emerge%20from%20the%20womb%20like%20glazed,much%20or%20more%20by%20culture%20as%20by%20nature.

[3] BraineyQoutes.com/Wayne Dyer Quotes/ https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/wayne_dyer_384143

[4] www.goodreads/Quotes/ https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=We+don%27t+see+things+as+they+are%3B+we+see+them+as+we+are.++%E2%80%95+Ana%C3%AFs+Nin&commit=Search

[5] Goodreads.com/Lao Tzu > Quotes > Quotable Quote/ https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/582339-when-people-see-some-things-as-beautiful-other-things-become

When the Winds of Change Come, Build a Windmill

Change. People fear it. It’s frightening. We can’t control it. We know it’s coming. It always comes. It’s inevitable. When the winds of change come, we have two choices. We can build a wall and hunker down and hope it passes. Or we can build a windmill to bring a newfound energy into our lives.

People gravitate to what’s familiar to them. What they know. It doesn’t matter that what they know might or could be bad or wrong or bad for them, it’s what they know. People can carry bad habits and/or mindsets for years and become comfortable with them. They get used to things a certain way in our lives. It’s familiar.

Definition of winds of change

: forces that have the power to change things — used generally to mean change is going to happen.

The winds of change have begun to blow.[1]

This is the major reason we don’t like change. Familiar has an outcome we know. Change does not. This is the principal reason people fear it.

Change means uncertainty, something unknown. Something registers in people’s brains that triggers that uncomfortable feeling of the unknown. They imagine many outcomes, and none of them are good.

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

George Bernard Shaw

The problem is that the one thing in life that is certain is that it will change. We have no control of it, ever. Never have, and never will have. If you think you do, ask the rain to stop in the middle of the storm. Won’t happen. You’ll just have to wait it out like the rest of us.

We can do our best to project a positive outcome in our lives in our minds, but unless your compass has been calibrated and maintained there is a strong chance that when you set sail of that small island in the middle of nowhere you will get lost.

You have two choices when the winds of change blow:

Build a wall and wait out the winds of change.
Build a windmill and use the energy of the storm to your benefit.

When confronted with change, most people prefer to hunker down and try to wait it out. “We have never done it this way in the past.” “I just don’t like it that way.” “I won’t do it that way, so I quit.”

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Leo Tolstoy

I have a friend who faced severe health issues because of certain life choices. After being diagnosed, they were given the information of what needed to change in their lives to correct the problem along with surgery.

The person agreed to change habits in order to receive the surgery and did for a while. But it wasn’t long before the old habits crept in and they were right back where they started, only now in debt.

Rather than resist the changes needed and dictated by life, build a windmill. The windmill uses the surrounding force to convert otherwise useless energies around it into a positive energy force that can be converted into positive and useful energy.

Really, it’s all about our perspective and how we look at things in these situations. How we perceive problems is how we decide on what action to take to fix it. If what we perceive to be true is actually not true, then we are making critical decisions based on inaccurate perceptions.

As an example of this, we can be heard saying that the sun is setting over the horizon as if it is moving in a circular path around us. Yet isn’t it actually true that it is standing still while the Earth rotates around the sun?

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.

Nikos Kazantzakis

Being open to change allows for the positive forces in our lives to manifest and work to our benefit. Remember, the winds of change will blow whether we like it, so why not use them to our advantage rather than hunker down and get our roofs blown off?

I will leave you with this thought. Change is an attitude. If you say yes to change, you are opening yourself up to a new beginning with new and exciting outcomes. If you say you can’t change, you are really saying you won’t change. And that’s another article.

That why I say When the Winds of Change Come, Build a Windmill.

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.

Margaret Mead

I’ve written another article that you might like. You can read it here:

IN THE END ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHAT YOU DO

If you have enjoyed this article, please visit me at www.JosephBinning.com for more helpful tips and articles.

You can also get more helpful information in my book You Matter, even if you don’t think so which you can purchase on Amazon here Amazon You Matter, even if you don’t think so

For my free report Happiness Is A Choice click here: Happiness Is A Choice Free Report

Remember: Happiness is a choice, so be happy.

[1] “Winds of change.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/winds%20of%20change. Accessed 25 Jan. 2021.

PERCEPTIONS & CHOICES Why You See and Choose What You Do

When the Winds of Change Come, Build a Windmill

When the Winds of Change Come, Build a Windmill