One thought in particular has been on my mind this past day, “Become transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I feel like I am on the verge of a renewal, a transformation.
My recent clarity regarding “ideas” and how they control us, and how we can choose to let them go, has allowed me to separate myself from some ideas that have been with me for a long time. Ideas that were not helping me. I now see that ideas are sort of like a coat, an article of clothing that we can choose to wear or not. But, unlike a coat, I think Ideas drive behavior and they do “have us” once we decide to wear them, whether we put them on consciously or not.
OK, so you have an idea, and that idea drives certain behaviors; ask yourself, what is the long term outcome of those behaviors? What is the “fruit” that will result from those behaviors? What outcomes have you already experienced by acting on a given idea that you hold? If the answer is not good then the ideas underlying that behavior are not good. Kill these bad ideas.
I could be wrong, but I think killing a bad idea is way more effective than trying to control a behavior, which is like trimming the leaves on a weed growing in your garden. The weed is still there and still lives. No, pull the weed up by the roots and discard it.
For example, I used to smoke cigarettes for a time. The idea was that, “I enjoy having a cigarette”, that, “the subtle effects of the nicotine drug were something I wanted to experience, smoking was kind of sexy and sort of calms me down and sharpens me up,” that, “I don’t smoke enough to cause real harm,” and/or, “to hell with it!”, and ,”I like the feeling of rebellion and the tinge of nihilism I feel when grabbing a smoke.” As long as I held these ideas, there was little point in trying to change my behavior of “enjoying” a cigarette. It was futile. Once I held different “ideas” about cigarettes then not smoking was the result.
So, back to the renewing of the mind. In some sense, the “mind” is the collection of ideas that you choose to put on and act out in the world. Trace your behaviors to their source and discover what ideas are driving you. Then realize you can choose to put on a different coat, different ideas, ideas that drive behavior that manifests the health and prosperity and meaning – renew your mind with new and better ideas. Throw off the tyranny of ideas that are not helping you.
Use the 365 Commitment as a framework work for putting on new ideas. Think of the behavior, the habit you want to have, that you think will lead to a future outcome (a fruit) you want, then trace back to the ideas that would drive such a habit, and put those on – let those good ideas “have you.” Change your “ideas wardrobe.” Pull bad ideas out by their roots and discard them, kill them before they kill you, and renew your mind.
By the way, Christ had some good ideas.
Ben Wagner (167)
Member The 365 Commitment
Ben, some deep thinking here. I have never looked at it this way. It’s sometimes hard to admit that your idea was not really a good one. Sometimes we press on, believing we couldn’t be wrong about something we have conjured up. Thanks for some great food for thought.
Thanks Kayann. I have been reading a book by Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life. So the concepts I’m writing about come from his mind not mine. Although, since I’ve thought about it, related it to my own experience, and wrote about it, and have incorporated into my own mind, I now have some claim to it. Still, credit is due to Jordan.
For me, it explains how people get carried away by ideologies and totalitarian thinking (“I know it all, this (set of ideas) explain everything – I need no more information”).
As always so good to hear from you .
Ben