The way we think

I’ve been thinking about the law and what it means.  

What is the purpose of a law? To stop us from doing things? What things? Things that are bad for us – or bad for someone else? Some laws are simply for keeping order, and order is generally a good thing to keep!

What if there was no law? Would it then be legal to do anything? Actually …  yes! (from a law point of view) What if there was a crazy law – like ‘you can only eat every second day’. You say “but that’s a stupid law” Can we decide to obey or disobey a law depending on our opinion of it?

You cannot break the law, but only break yourself against the law.

So, where is all this going?

When God began with us, back in Genesis, He only had 1 law – “don’t eat the fruit from THAT tree please” and even that one was broken! What chance do we have now?

Moses gave us 10 laws (the Jewish people had lots more )  Why? To show us we can’t stay good for any more than a few minutes

There is a saying that “locks are for keeping honest people honest”  so is it also fair to say that the law is for keeping obedient people obedient?

Wrong on both counts.  Honest people are honest because they have considered it and decided to be honest. Who you are is the critical matter, what’s in your heart.

Paul said in Romans 7:14

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
 ²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
   So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

In everything and every situation I can think of,  who we are and what we do is based on the wiring in our heads. Our paradigm, so to speak.
All our learning and experiences in life make up the mesh of wiring in our brains. Every thought runs through that mesh and delivers an opinion. You could, in some cases, even call it a judgement. We decide: I like that, I don’t like that, I agree with that, I don’t agree with that, I can do that, I can’t do that, etc.
Have you ever considered the foundation on which those decisions are based on? Are they current opinions? Are they based on things so far back that they are irrelevant today?  

I am prone to the same challenges in this area, however, because I have become aware of this ‘weakness’ in my thinking process, I deliberately try to sabotage the ‘natural’ process of accepting ‘I have always thought that’ by deciding to look at things from a deliberately strange angle. Even if I believe I’m thinking down an avenue that leads to a cul-de-sac or a wrong conclusion. The purpose it to shift my thinking off the ‘easy’ option of accepting what has become the status quo answers.
One way to approach this desire to shift my thinking is to examine my motivation for doing, saying or believing something. Keeping in mind that the way I always thought about something may be correct, I don’t want to change my beliefs just for the sake of it, but I do want to know that my beliefs are based on solid ground.
I have often mulled over the question ‘which is best – the how of something or the why of something’ Let me explain.
I have been a ‘how’ person for most of my life. If someone needed something fixed they asked me because I was a how person – I could figure out how to fix it. The world needs how people.
The world also needs ‘why’ people. In fact, without ‘why’ people, the ‘how’ people wouldn’t have a lot to do.
When I fix a plumbing problem for someone, I know how but they know why. They pay the how person – happy days! On that level this is good.
However, generally a how person gets paid an amount of money related to the level of his/her how ability. For example, a shop worker knows how to satisfy a customer by helping them choose the goods they want but they get paid less that a doctor who knows how to fix your body when it aches. They are both how people.
A why person is the person with the dream, the vision, the plan. He/she hires the how person to execute that plan and takes the profit. They are the people who know why people buy a certain product or service, who know why there is a need for another shopping centre, concert hall, office block, airport, web site etc.
On average, a how person earns from the neck down and that pays an industrial wage give or take 20%. A why person earns from the neck up and that can lead to great fortunes. Of course it can go the other way too!
What divides these two groups is the same thing that divides the honest and dishonest people, the law abiders and law breakers, the positive thinks and the negative thinkers, the good workers and the bad workers, the friendly people and the people we like to avoid, and pretty much every other grouping that we see every day.
The difference is MOTIVATION. What is the motivation that causes you to do good, do right, work, fix things, dream things and push against the odds to achieve those dreams?
Without motivation nothing happens.
I will leave you to ponder this – if you feel motivated to do so!
Thinking is free, and still it is the most ignored process in the majority of people. Let your mind run wild, it won’t hurt, honest. It’s fun and enlightening. Maybe the next big idea is already in your head waiting to break out.

What is best – a great skill or a great attitude?

Try this exercise when you have a few minutes.

Don’t start into it unless you have about 10/15 mins to complete it and do each part as you read it, that is, don’t read all the way to the end before you start or you will not get the best out of it.

1)      Write down one, two or three names of people that you admire or who have the success that you would like to have.

2)      Write beside each name the attributes of the person. Ie ambitious, educated, friendly, hard working, generous, decisive,  articulate, organised etc.

Do the above 2 steps before moving on to step 3

3)       Draw 2 columns down your page. Write a heading of “Skill” over one column and a heading of “attitude” over the other. I define skill as something you can learn (in school for example) and attitude as the outlook or way of thinking that you have. The way you view things.

4)      Write each of the collective traits of your chosen people into the column you feel they belong in ( skill into skills column and anything that is not a skill into the attitude column and see the results.

In my experience it has been without exception that the attitude side will account for the highest number of attributes.

What does this actually mean?

I believe that a weak skill base with a great attitude will produce more than a great skill base and a bad attitude every time.

If you’re looking for a job keep this in mind.

Talk soon

Jim B

Happiness – Your choice!

Do you think happiness is a bit like a summer’s day in Ireland?

You’re excited when it arrives but before you know it – it’s gone again! You can’t chase it, you can’t capture it and you can’t count on it's return.

I think happiness is a by-product of attainable things, and that’s good news!

Think about this,

Here are 4 ingredients that I believe produce happiness

1)      Someone to love

2)      Something to do

3)      Something to look forward to

4)      Something to give away or share

These are all decisions we can make, so happiness must have it's basis in a decision.

Are these things that you have chosen to make a part of your life today?

What makes you happy?

Let me know.

Jim B

Are you in sales?

Did you know that people only ever buy 2 things. 

“That can’t be true” I hear you say. “I see shopping trolleys of things leaving the supermarket every week. How can people only ever buy 2 things?”

If you think about it you will find that anything that anybody buys will fall into one or both of these two categories

1)      Something that solves a problem.

2)      Something that makes them feel good

So, what solves a problem for example?

 a bulb, toilet roll, sandwich bags, washing up liquid, some foods, a drill, paint, visit to the doctor etc.

So, what makes someone feel good?  

A car, a holiday, sweets/cakes, clothes, visit to the hair dresser, beer, DVD  etc

You get my drift?

Next time you’re selling anything, ask yourself “is this customer looking for a solution to a problem or a good feeling”  then promote the value of your products as the “solution” or the “good feeling“ that the customer is looking for.

Hope you found this thought provoking.

Jim B

Character thoughts.

Sometimes I think about character.

Character can be described as:-

1)      Moral or ethical strength,

2)      A description of a person's attributes, traits, and abilities.

3)      Personal integrity       

or even

4)      Doing what’s right even if we knew we would never be caught.

Have you ever thought what things you would do if you knew you could never be caught?

Does the pressure of life ask questions of your strength to always do the right thing?

Pressure doesn’t always develop character – but it does always reveal it!

 A friend of mine used to say “locks are made to keep honest people honest”

So I ask myself - Do I need laws to keep me on the straight and narrow?  Do I judge others by the standards I keep myself or by the standards I profess to keep, and how much of a gap is there between the two? 

Just something to ponder.

Talk soon

Jim B

Some people, like modern shops, hang everything in their windows and when one goes inside nothing is to be found —Berthold Auerbach

Character is like a tree, and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing —Abraham Lincoln

Garden Gates – a symbol?

My Dad used to say “be sure when you leave someone’s home to close the garden gate behind you”

He said it was a sign of respect and consideration for the home owner’s privacy, the work they have done in the garden and your acknowledgement of both.

Isn’t if funny that the modern home very often no longer has a gate!. We’re now in the age of open plan gardens. Is this an expression of a more open society, welcoming and barrier free or a reflection of a society with a growing lack of consideration for the respect and privacy of others?

Just thinking!

Talk soon

Jim B

Time to plan ahead

I once heard that Wisdom is “wise doing”. I suppose if you have learned something but don’t actually apply it into your life through your actions then it hasn’t really been learnt and therefore is not really wisdom.

There are many stages in the life of an ordinary man. At this time of year I’m reminded of two.

The first of these is:-

Stage 1)  we believe in Santa

Stage 2)  we don’t believe in Santa

Stage 3)  we become Santa!

The second one is a little more serious. Only two stages in this.

Stage 1) up to the age of around 40/45 we chase success

Stage 2) after that age we chase significance.

Just as a side note. Its my birthday on the 23^rd of January. I’ll be 54.

Is it just me or do birthdays make you review your life? Do you try to measure your progress along some imaginary path that you either set for yourself or others set for you? Do you compare your “success” in life to others who are the same age? How do you measure success?

Did you ever actually take the time to plot out a game plan for your life? Did you ever write a mission statement for “YOU. inc”?  

Did you ever write down your gifts and talents and see how to make the best use of them to get you to where you want to go? Did you ever access what additional skill or talents you needed to complete your mission and then set about getting them?

If you’ve done any of the above you’re somewhere in the 3 or 5% of the population that also has. If, like me, you’re with the 95% that haven’t, don’t despair, tomorrow is waiting for you. A fresh 24 hour start to the rest of your life.

There is nothing so freeing as sitting down with a blank piece of paper and thinking about what you want out of life.

 Mind you, its not easy!

Here’s how I would suggest you start.

1)      Ask yourself “if time and money were not an issue, how would I spend the next 5 years of my life? What would I be? What would I do? And what would I have?”

2)      Ask yourself “  what is the ONE thing, that I could add to my life OR the ONE thing that I could take out of my life right now that  would have an immediate and positive effect”.

3)      Write down  how you can get that ONE thing? Let you mind think freely. Don’t put up any barriers yet. At first your ideas will seem silly and unobtainable but you’ll b amazed that after a while of writing your “unrealistic” ideas – something will happen that will get you excited with a “possible” solution. Time is not important at this stage. Allow yourself some quiet time away from distractions. Come back to it if you have to. Do it over a few days. Don’t discuss it with people who don’t have a vision for their own lives. They’ll only offer you negatives.

You’ll see my motto under my blog name “when you can see the invisible – you can achieve the impossible”

Anything that has been invented, any story or song ever written, any great achievement by anyone had they’re beginnings as a thought and thoughts are invisible to everyone but yourself! There is creative power in thoughts. My Dad always said that thinking is the most powerful but most under used ability of a human! We can earn an average income (give or take 10% ) using our body from our neck down but the sky’s the limit for our income if we use our body from the neck up. How true is that!

Let me know how you’re getting on.

Talk soon

Jim B