A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation".
Every Monday I will post a new thought, idea, or focus for the week. When you need a breather from life, when you need a little inspiration, or when you're about to jump over the conference table and strangle your co-worker, remember the mantra.
Monday Mantra: To free yourself you must face yourself
We all have stories. Things that have happened to our friends, our families. Things that have happened to us. Things our friends and families have done. Things we've done.
Perfectly sane people who have gone completely insane for what? Love, power, money. Because of anger, jealousy, pain, pride, lust.
We all know about Enron and Countrywide and other companies alike, run by delusional, corrupt, insane leaders who ran their companies into the ground - stealing the livelihood from their employees - all while making millions for themselves. We know stories of our friends and loved ones who have done unspeakable, horrible, delusional things all on their own. Things that seem so bizarre you can't believe they're real, but they are. Things that seem wrong beyond all definitions of wrong.
Of course, there are people in this world who are not sane. People who, from the day of their inception, were born without a conscious to guide them. Those are the bad and those are not who I'm talking about today. I'm talking about people like you. People like me. Normal, everyday, good people who get caught up in their darkness- a darkness we all have. A darkness that, if left ignored and unwatched, can take over turning us into Good People Gone Bad.
There's a study called the Milgram Experiment, in which participants are told by an authoritative figure to conduct acts of torture on other innocent individuals all in the name of science. The acts go against their own good judgement, yet they do them. Good people who do bad things because they're told to, resulting in them being bad people themselves.
The study demonstrated two things: 1) That people are unaware of their own human nature and what they are capable of and 2) That people will write off, in their minds, the bad things they do as long as they can convince themselves that they're doing it because someone of authority told them to, thus taking the responsibility off of themselves for their actions.
This is important, friends, because this explains a lot about history, why things have happened, and what we can do to avoid becoming these Good People Gone Bad.
This is why I tell you, with all sincerity and kindness in my heart, that the scariest thing in the world is you.
You, me, each and every one of us. Why? Because of the things we're capable of - what we've done, what we can do, what we will do.
Pushed just far enough by just the right means, or given the right authoritative figure as the Milgram experiment (and Hitler) demonstrate, many of us could become someone we no longer recognize.
Why do I mention this? Not so that we feel powerless or horrible, rather so that we have a fighting chance. So that we can raise our awareness level, thus avoiding becoming Good People Gone Bad. We can avoid it by realizing why we do the things we do. Why we feel the way we feel. We can avoid it by not sitting back and letting life unravel, but by taking a stand in our lives - against ourselves - so that we can get help, talk through things, and not let the darkest parts of us remain hidden and waiting until the day they can be unleashed. To bring light to the dark- that's how we prevent ourselves from ending up on the nightly news. Once we are aware of our human nature - our weaknesses - only then are we able to avoid the pitfalls of our own deceptive minds.
It's easier to understand this if you compare it to having an illness, let's say cancer. If you shows signs of illness but refuse to see a doctor, refuse to take better care of yourself, refuse to even acknowledge that something is wrong with you (because of fear, denial, pride, etc.) you will lose and cancer will win. The same applies to your thoughts, to your soul, to your emotions. Let's tie this back to those things, for example, if you're in a bad or unhappy marriage and you want to cheat on your significant other instead of facing the reality of your situation and seeking therapy or leaving the marriage all together, you have chosen denial. You have chosen the darker path that will lead to nothing but destruction. Alternatively, if you are willing to acknowledge how you feel and face it head on, you have then given yourself the gift of light. You have avoided becoming a Good Person Gone Bad.
This is why you must be willing to take a cold, hard look in the mirror and face each and every one of your demons. You can only bring darkness to light by opening the blinds you have shut so tightly. We become these Good People Gone Bad when we refuse to accept reality, when we give in to emotion, when we let our minds take us to dark places that don't actually exist. What I mean by that is this: Our minds, if we let them, will run a muck of our lives. They are just as capable of telling us the world is falling apart, that we're not worthy, that we are unloved as they are of telling us everything is fine, we have value, we are important. It's up to us to put them in their place when we need to.
Perfectly sane people who have gone completely insane for what? Love, power, money. Because of anger, jealousy, pain, pride, lust.
We all know about Enron and Countrywide and other companies alike, run by delusional, corrupt, insane leaders who ran their companies into the ground - stealing the livelihood from their employees - all while making millions for themselves. We know stories of our friends and loved ones who have done unspeakable, horrible, delusional things all on their own. Things that seem so bizarre you can't believe they're real, but they are. Things that seem wrong beyond all definitions of wrong.
Of course, there are people in this world who are not sane. People who, from the day of their inception, were born without a conscious to guide them. Those are the bad and those are not who I'm talking about today. I'm talking about people like you. People like me. Normal, everyday, good people who get caught up in their darkness- a darkness we all have. A darkness that, if left ignored and unwatched, can take over turning us into Good People Gone Bad.
There's a study called the Milgram Experiment, in which participants are told by an authoritative figure to conduct acts of torture on other innocent individuals all in the name of science. The acts go against their own good judgement, yet they do them. Good people who do bad things because they're told to, resulting in them being bad people themselves.
The study demonstrated two things: 1) That people are unaware of their own human nature and what they are capable of and 2) That people will write off, in their minds, the bad things they do as long as they can convince themselves that they're doing it because someone of authority told them to, thus taking the responsibility off of themselves for their actions.
This is important, friends, because this explains a lot about history, why things have happened, and what we can do to avoid becoming these Good People Gone Bad.
This is why I tell you, with all sincerity and kindness in my heart, that the scariest thing in the world is you.
You, me, each and every one of us. Why? Because of the things we're capable of - what we've done, what we can do, what we will do.
Pushed just far enough by just the right means, or given the right authoritative figure as the Milgram experiment (and Hitler) demonstrate, many of us could become someone we no longer recognize.
Why do I mention this? Not so that we feel powerless or horrible, rather so that we have a fighting chance. So that we can raise our awareness level, thus avoiding becoming Good People Gone Bad. We can avoid it by realizing why we do the things we do. Why we feel the way we feel. We can avoid it by not sitting back and letting life unravel, but by taking a stand in our lives - against ourselves - so that we can get help, talk through things, and not let the darkest parts of us remain hidden and waiting until the day they can be unleashed. To bring light to the dark- that's how we prevent ourselves from ending up on the nightly news. Once we are aware of our human nature - our weaknesses - only then are we able to avoid the pitfalls of our own deceptive minds.
It's easier to understand this if you compare it to having an illness, let's say cancer. If you shows signs of illness but refuse to see a doctor, refuse to take better care of yourself, refuse to even acknowledge that something is wrong with you (because of fear, denial, pride, etc.) you will lose and cancer will win. The same applies to your thoughts, to your soul, to your emotions. Let's tie this back to those things, for example, if you're in a bad or unhappy marriage and you want to cheat on your significant other instead of facing the reality of your situation and seeking therapy or leaving the marriage all together, you have chosen denial. You have chosen the darker path that will lead to nothing but destruction. Alternatively, if you are willing to acknowledge how you feel and face it head on, you have then given yourself the gift of light. You have avoided becoming a Good Person Gone Bad.
This is why you must be willing to take a cold, hard look in the mirror and face each and every one of your demons. You can only bring darkness to light by opening the blinds you have shut so tightly. We become these Good People Gone Bad when we refuse to accept reality, when we give in to emotion, when we let our minds take us to dark places that don't actually exist. What I mean by that is this: Our minds, if we let them, will run a muck of our lives. They are just as capable of telling us the world is falling apart, that we're not worthy, that we are unloved as they are of telling us everything is fine, we have value, we are important. It's up to us to put them in their place when we need to.
Be strong, be brave, and above all else be aware. Awareness is always the key. This is how we build a better us, a better life, a better world.
This is how we become the most beautiful things in the world.
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