Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
We live in a society of advice columns, experts and make-over shows. Without even knowing it, you can begin to believe someone knows better than you how to live your life. Someone might know a particular something better – like how to bake a three-layer molten coconut chocolate cake or how to build a website – but nobody else on the planet knows how to live your life better than you. (Although one or two people may think they do.) For today, trying asking yourself often, especially before you make a choice, “What do I know about this?”
I'm Australian and we tend, as a cultural rule, doubt people who attest to their own authority. I was also bought up in a household where every one was questioned for their integrity. When I learnt about how other people thought about people like doctors, police, talk show hosts, politicians and all who make a living by counting on your disorder, I was literally shocked.
People are people after all. No better and no worse than they are. But they are human. And human's are, as we know, capable of great kindness and insight and dazingly shocking behaviour. We can't tell until we give them a chance. Each situation is unique and can not be dictated by our previous experience. No matter how comforting it is to grab a belief based on a previous experience and hold it for dear life. All you'll get is a repeat of all you've been through in the past. oi!
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