“If you believe you are right, or you believe you are wrong, you’re right.” –Tony Robbins
Our minds are judgmental, continually choosing whether something is good or bad, right or wrong. Our environment works to influence our belief system, but ultimately we alone decide what we want to believe.
So much of what we choose to believe is based on our emotions. If we are in a bad mood, two days of cold, gloomy weather can translate into us believing the winters where we live are lousy when, in fact, the winters could be quite mild overall. That is where our critical thinking skills come in. Some of these skills are being open-minded, respecting evidence, and seeing different perspectives to name a few. We must be aware of our emotions and ask ourselves often if we are using our critical thinking skills when we are receiving information. This can prevent us from making poor choices.
Today is Martin Luther King Day, a person who we hold in high regard as he urged people to be open-minded and treat all individuals of this country with the respect and dignity we should show to all life. From his unwavering teaching of critical thinking skills which also included not being stuck in one position, he brought about the Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination based on color, religion, sex, and national origin. My memoir, Bitter Water, was largely based on the premise that our civil rights were being violated.
Our life and livelihood on our ranch was completely upended by people who chose to believe that we should be treated differently than others. Critical thinking skills were hijacked by the emotions of people in power who were motivated by the most basic of human feelings, fear. . . the fear of others. It is choosing to overcome our fears that brings about the greatest change within ourselves and in our societies. Our happiness is often a matter of choice.
“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” –Abraham Lincoln
Featured photo by: Damian Siodłak