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.