“As much as others may need to change, or we
may want them to change, the only person we can continually inspire, prod, and
shape — with any degree of success — is the person in the mirror.”
― Kerry
Patterson
“The accent
changes, but the script sounds the same to me,” was what U2’s Bono said, during
the Zoo TV concert in Sydney in November 1993, as he interacted with television
in a live music concert with his band.
We establish
stories about what’s going on in our lives and we hardly ever think to
challenge those stories for truth. We
don’t fact-check them enough. And
therefore we have hurt-scripts running in the background, the subconscious mind
informing the conscious mind, which leads to massive discontent. Not every hurt inflicted against us is backed
up by a surreptitious script, but many are.
Let me
illustrate:
Sometimes I’ve thought
of myself as unfairly judged due to the amount of innocent mistakes I’ve
made. Then, suddenly, I find myself
saying about myself: “I’m prone to
making a lot of errors,” when, in fact, it’s better (and more accurate) for me
to say, “I don’t make any more mistakes than the next person, and when I do
make a mistake I’m quick to reconcile the matter, and that’s acceptable.” Regarding other people, the negative script
might be, “They’re an uncaring person and they really don’t have my best
interests at heart.” A better, more
accurate script might be, “There may be some good explanation for why they
appeared uncaring.”
When we
challenge the scripts we run, checking them against information that must be
known, we’re able to quieten that raucous and stressing voice inside us that
wreaks havoc. That is the voice of the
enemy. Satan wants us to be confused and
overwhelmed by scripts riddled with lies.
Whilst these scripts secure us ‘safely’ in our victimhood, they do
nothing for our real peace — or theirs!
And forgiveness is impossible when these faulty stories run
unreconciled.
The scripts we
run in our minds go toward the stories of the beliefs we hold about ourselves,
and sustaining negative stories holds us up to our own contempt. It’s better to get onto our own side and
start to discipline ourselves in our thinking to conform to the truth — sorting
the wheat (knowable information) from the chaff (assumptions). The Bible helps us in the area of Romans
12:1-3 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.
***
Growth in wisdom
is reliant on separating out the wheat (knowable information i.e. facts) from
the chaff (assumptions we dream up).
The disciplined
mind is safe and steady and still. The
disciplined mind checks fact from assumption.
The disciplined
mind is empowered by its truth by entering into its own story of fact, and the
jettisoning of assumption.
***
Careful is a
spiritual person to nurture stories of belief for health.
What we think of
ourselves deeper down has more of an impact on what we think of others than we realise.
The safest state
of consciousness is the steady reception of reality, as truths of fact are acknowledged
and assumptions are abandoned.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
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