SHUT THE HELL UP

How much value do we place on our own lives? How about the lives of others? I don’t think we place very much value on the life of another until another is gone. Are we taught how to value something by imitating how someone else values something? Are our feelings and thoughts authentic to us, our own mind? Or are our values just something society has sneakily pushed into our psyches?

We value others in our life, but do we really? Do we just think that they add value or do we tell and show them that they do?

I believe we spend a lot of time and effort and energy figuring out how to change others. Not accepting their everything, hoping changes would somehow suit our needs better, make us better, make us happier. I’m guilty of hoping someone would change; thinking this change would not only better me, better them, but it would better us. Acceptance of a whole other is difficult and I think it is so because there is so much toxic stuff floating around in all of our minds. This toxicity has come from this society we live in: there are so many false beliefs and trying to separate those from our lives, from the life of another is a challenge.

I once read a book that I am soon going to read again called the “Meme Machine”. Meme’s are “Mind Viruses”. Memes are beliefs, ideals, thoughts, skills, even behaviors that have spread like wildfire throughout our culture by way of imitation. Not all memes are bad. If you were taught something from your parents for instance, and you learned it by watching them, this is an example of a meme.

This book helps to explain the whys of the world (culture and society) and the whys of ourselves, how we got to where we are today. I was mostly interested in the way the book tries to explain ‘free will’. What is free will? Does free will really exist if most of our action is a result of imitating another? Do you think we make choices based on a choice we saw someone else make? Most of you would say NO! I am my own person! I am unique just like everybody else! But truth is, maybe your authenticity isn’t what you believe it to be.

Trying to separate ourselves from the influences of others and influences of the outside world feels damn near impossible. I think being aware that we are heavily influenced by others however is the first step. Why do what everyone else does? Will that really make you happy? Why are you always trying to please everyone else? You may think that you aren’t, but you very well probably are. On the opposite end of that, trying to push may not be the alternative I am talking about either. We all know that person in our life, the resistor, the person who fights anything and everything that happens to them. They constantly try to rebel against everyone and everybody, if even just in their own minds. Sometimes I think I am the queen resistor.

Here’s where I am going. Do we believe what we believe and are who we are because of the world around us? We seem to believe what others believe, dress how others dress, think as others think…all because society is a powerful and frightening source of mind altering energy. (And you all say Bo didn’t influence my thoughts! Ba! He recommended this book!)

So…how do we change this pattern? How do we show and teach our kids that they don’t need to get sucked into this world of robotic thinking, believing, behaving? Well Jesus, if I knew I would certainly be writing more about that, than just the concept/idea of the Meme. (Pronounced MEEM by the way)

I was told to look into Meditation. (As an alternative right now to the local Psychiatric Ward…laugh that was supposed to be funny) Not only does my mind spin and my thoughts race, but I think about my thoughts more than anything else and I analyze their existence, their creation, and sometimes their destructiveness. I’ve realized that most of my thoughts perhaps even many of my beliefs have really come from others, from our society. I need to learn to quiet my mind. I need to learn to be still. I need to listen to me more and worry less about what I am thinking, believing, doing. Less movement. Reflection. Is that possible for me?

Maybe just maybe, I am a crazed woman. I feel as though I am a crazed wild woman roaming this planet thinking too much. (No wonder he liked me) And others wonder why I am an adrenaline junkie. Only when your body is launched through the air, or you are screaming down the side of a mountain strapped to something, or you are pushing your body to say, run insane distances, does ALL. THOUGHT. STOP. I guess that’s what I am getting to here. STOP THINKING SO MUCH. Start listening more. Shut up. Stop talking. Who knew how hard these things would be for me. I’m certain it is hard for most of us.

So here we are. I got a goal today. Just gonna try to SHUT UP. Shut up my mind from thinking too much, definitely shutting my mouth, and start listening. (Writing doesn’t count by the way, ha!) The change will come. It just might take baby steps to get there. Awareness is the first step! And if I have to pack up a burro and run up the side of the mountain to clear my head for now, or throw myself off a steep mountainside on my snowboard, so be it. Fear is a good method for clearing the mind for now. Speed helps too. If I have to scare the thought from my mind, I guess that’s what I’ll do. Funny how little you are thinking when your survival is at stake. It’s a start.

I challenge you. Try it today.

SHUT THE HELL UP.