Most of the great inventors and thinkers of our time were not conformists.
They were prepared to take the accepted norms of society, whether they were religion or science, and test it against another truth. They observed and came to conclusions that upset the conformists to the core.
A number were tried and found guilty of crimes against religion. They either had to recant or face death.
Are you prepared to embark on such a journey or are you happy to just conform?
Would you dare to test the ideals, values and beliefs that you hold so dear?
Are you ready to be labelled as a rebel with all of the related consequences?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions then fasten your seatbelt as the road forward gets a bit rough.
Any form of change that you make is usually met with resistance because your ingrained habits are threatened and you enjoy your comfort zones. People who are conformists will resist or belittle your move towards change.
Most of your life is habitual.
Habits are things that you do without thinking.
You do the things that you did yesterday, the day before and ever since you can remember.
Some habits are good whilst others are bad.
To transform your thought processes is not difficult but it will require discipline and persistence. Your mind will revolt at first but do not give up. You didn’t wake up one morning with all your habits. They formed over a period of time until some of them enslaved you.
Like all habits, you will have to work at this to get the results. It’s similar to changing eating patterns or a deciding to get fit again. You must decide what your goal is and how you are going to achieve it. Then comes the discipline and persistence.
It takes discipline to say no to the fine tasting food or to exercise when you are tired.
It takes persistence to keep on going when it looks as though you are achieving nothing.
Before you can begin transforming your thoughts, you’ll have to evaluate what you want to change.
For an example, I’m sure you’ve heard of positive thinking.
The question to ask yourself is whether you need to apply it in your life. Most of the time you react to things you don’t understand with a healthy dose of cynicism.
Why? It’s either because you have heard something bad about it from someone or you’ve not spent time trying to understand what it is and why it works.
In a nutshell, you do not believe in it and you know the immense power of belief. If you don’t believe it, you’ll never accept it.
It’s a twofold process to transform your thoughts.
First you have to remove your old wiring or beliefs.
This involves evaluating your belief about positive thinking – as an example.
Once you’ve decided that it’s something that will improve or enhance your life then it’s time to change your thought patterns.
If you’ve been pessimistic in your thought life, you’ll need to recognise the thoughts and seek their source.
Why? Unless you find the root cause of your pessimism, you’ll never change the fruit which is the negative thoughts.
How long will it take to transform your thoughts?
Research shows it can take between 30 days to a year.
I prefer to break it down into smaller portions.
1 week to break a habit
3 weeks to change a habit
3 months to kill a habit.
You can relapse at any time in the first year. Ask any smoker who has given up!
It takes hard discipline to keep walking on your new road of choice.
This process can be applied to anything that you want to change in your life.
Thoughts are the foundations of words, which form our actions and then our habits.
Take charge your life by transforming your thoughts.
The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones. ~Somerset Maugham