Self Improvement The Need To Look A Different Way

It’s a fact of life that most people view life through dark glasses and, as a result, everything appears gloomier than it should. This is normal because the normal mind is hard-wired to look at reality through our conditioning and it is more likely than not that our mind will dwell on negative rather than positive conditioning. This mental tendency is what’s keeping your life on hold.

You must alter the way you look at your world – this is the very essence of personal development. However, I’m not suggesting that you look at the world through rose-tinted glasses – that would disable you from seeing potential pitfalls or warning signs. Such an attitude prevents people from knowing when to give up on something that isn’t working for them – such as a dead relationship or a floundering business. In other words, what is widely known as positive thinking or a positive mental attitude is seriously dangerous and often leads to the biggest cop-out: “I’ll do nothing because I just know that things will improve!”

Something different, even innovative, is required. I am suggesting that you see life for what it is – the reality of the present moment. It is only in the present moment that you can see the potential upside of an opportunity that you might otherwise altogether miss with those dark glasses on. Again, you’ll be acutely aware of the potential downside of what you’re doing or thinking about doing – something that you could completely miss if you’re looking through your rose-tinted spectacles.

However, the reality and potential of the here and now can only be experienced, appreciated and capitalized upon if you get around your hard-wiring – something that doesn’t come naturally to the normal adult. But it was second nature to all of us when we were children. In fact, it was that clarity of mind that enabled us to be conditioned in the first place. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to relearn how to fully be in the here and now without putting your own personal spin or preconceived notions into the mix. You must stop making a nonsense of the present moment by your reliance on your conditioning.

You can do this by coming to your senses – I mean that quite literally. You’ve got five senses – you need to start paying attention to what they’re actually telling you. Psychology confirms that, as normal adults, we don’t pay a blind bit of attention to what our senses are actually telling us. Instead, our conditioning has lulled us into a false sense of security that we know best. We don’t – how could we, we’ve no perspective on the bigger picture of what life might be like if we let it.

Coming to your senses requires that you spend some time every day, preferably early in the morning, training your mind to notice what you actually see, feel, hear, smell and taste, without interpreting, without analysing, without jumping to your normal conclusions. Start working one sense each day and see where it takes you.