Thoughts That Need To Be Questioned

As I wrote about yesterday in my post, I am passionate about peace.  With that in mind checkout the free Peace Tweets book which you can get if you follow the sign up directions where you see the book to your right.   My wife and I and some friends wrote this simple but inspirational book.  You can’t beat the price and the words and ideas will help bring more peace to your life.

Speaking of peace this question came to mind as I was writing.  What keeps us from finding peace in our lives?  To answer that question, we don’t have to look much further than becoming mindful of our thoughts.  Most have us have no idea how confusing and misinforming our own thoughts are and in fact would argue vigorously in defense for what we think. 

The following could be some thoughts that are not right in your own thinking:

That guilt is a feeling that has merit

That you are not OK in some way

That you are a bad person

That you don’t deserve a good life

That desire is something you should avoid

That there is actually a place call heaven and a place called hell

That there is such a thing as sin

That God is exclusive to your religion

That hate and anger are the way you should live your life

That arrogance is a positive quality

That self-doubt is the way you are suppose to feel

That working 40 hours a week is how you have to live your life

That war makes sense

That hating government is smart

That having fun is wrong

That addiction is a sign of weakness

That being serious is a good way to live

That all people are not equally deserving of a good life

That building more prisons is the way to solve problems

That money for mental health programs isn’t important in your community

That pleasure is wrong

That divorce makes you a failure

That the opinion of others shouldn’t be questioned

That it is wrong to question authority

That ministers, priest, nuns, monks are more spiritual than you

That science is wrong and religion is right

That taxes are bad

That your thoughts are real

That others have a right to be judgmental of who you are

That you need the approval of others

That you are a better person if you follow the rules

That you are separate in any way from other human beings

That killing others in the name of God is ok

That shouting hate at those who have different beliefs is being a good Christian

That making profits is reason enough to fire employees

That unions are bad for the people

That CEO’s are to be admired no matter their policies

That corporations are more trustworthy than government

That lobbyist serve a positive purpose

That the rich deserve to be rich and you don’t

That is it ok to settle for less of who you are

That love is something you withhold to punish another

That children need to be hit and yelled at to get them to behave

That grades in school have real value

That abuse in any form is ever ok

That you are superior to others

That your beliefs are right and others are wrong

That education doesn’t matter once you finish school

That having money is wrong

That the past is more important

That worry is productive

That you should wait for the future to be happy

That you need to be in control to feel ok

That perfection is something to strive for

That you job is to life up to the expectation of others

 

These are just a small example of all the crazy kinds of thoughts we can have running around in our head causing us to be unhappy and to loose our freedom because of what we think.  Change your thoughts and you change your experience of life.