One of the most fascinating aspects about being human is our ability to have rational thought.
Having the capability to foresee things and make decisions in the present, in hopes of achieving a certain outcome for the future is nothing less than extraordinary.
Rational thought however, is a double edged sword…
Because not only are we capable of forethought and predicting certain outcomes, rational thought can also work against us in the sense that it allows us to look into our past and often dwell on the things that have gotten us to this very point in time.
When we become locked in thinking about out past, our vision for the future becomes blurry and we tend not to find the beauty in the present.
Our ability to find balance between our past, present and future creates a level of depth to our perception of who we are and where we want to go in life.
In other words, we must be able to take a deep look into our past and our experiences that influence our behavior, but not so much that we beat ourselves up over it.
Even going back to our earliest memories of childhood will give us clarity and depth to our perception of who we are as people.
By analyzing our past in depth, we can discover our own behavior patterns and the things that drive us to think and act the way that we do.
Once we have established our set behavior patterns, it opens up our ability to see into our future.
If there is a pattern that we discover about ourselves that we don’t particularly like, we can strategize a new pattern to move us onto the path of our purpose and long term mission.
Many of our patterns are deeply rooted in our own insecurities, and facing this realization is hard and daunting.
We might begin to ask ourselves “am I going to be like this forever?”
The answer to this question is simple in that every single one of us has a choice to make: we either continue behaving in such a way that conforms to the identity we have established for ourselves, or we recreate ourselves to inspire our chances to learn and grow as people.
Growth is a long term mission, which means we must be willing to sacrifice in the present (our short term wants and desires).
We must be willing to sacrifice our most primal instincts and urges to find our path to fulfillment.
We must be able to sacrifice the old perception of ourselves to establish new patterns and a new way of thinking.
This is a commitment we must make to ourselves everyday.
You have everything to gain by reflecting deep into yourself and gaining a new depth to your perception.
This does not go without mentioning that you also have to be careful not to get trapped and dwell on your insecurities.
We all have them, its just a matter of choosing what to do with them moving forward.