Peace of Mind

Apparently, as soon as we reach the grand old age of 50, huge stresses suddenly appear in our minds – or so some insurance companies would have us believe.

Now I’ve spoken to quite a few ‘over 50’s’, and they had no idea that they were supposed to be agonising and having sleepless nights over the cost of their funeral!

I’ve spoken to a few over 70’s as well and they don’t see it as any sort of priority either.

Most people say something like “well, I’ll be gone then so I don’t really care”.

I’m wondering if there’s some sort of conspiracy going on between insurers and undertakers to turn funerals into the vastly expensive events like those that weddings have become!

But here’s the thing.

The really sinister thing about what’s going on, of which this is just a single simple example.

I call it social engineering.

You and I know that when you make a statement over and over again it becomes ‘true’.

And it’s not just about persuading ‘over 50’s’ that they are going to die soon and need to have ‘peace of mind’ about their funeral being provided for.

It’s about everything else that goes on to manipulate the way people think.

I am talking here about ‘most people’ probably around 87% of the population.

You and I are usually aware when attempts are being made to manipulate us – but not always – we have to be really ‘on the ball’ to prevent certain ideas creeping in under the radar.

It’s not easy because the subconscious hears everything.

And takes it in

And stores it away

Along with all the accumulated ‘data’ we already have there – along with all the data passed on by our ancestors.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not ‘listening’ or even ‘ignoring’ all the data being thrown at you. The only way you can stop it going in is to switch it off.

But unfortunately, we don’t have a ‘mute’ button for everything, particularly real life, when we overhear people ‘talking rubbish’ and reinforcing the messages and ideas they’ve been ‘sent’.

There is a huge amount of false information – ‘fake news’ – coming at us all the time.

Why?

For two reasons

To persuade us to do something we don’t want to do or would not have otherwise thought of, and more importantly (for the propagators), to persuade us to think in a way that we would not have come up with ourselves or about a subject that would otherwise never have cropped up.

Most of what you and I are subjected to is propaganda – it’s not advertising or marketing which are relatively ‘clean’ ways of getting a message across – it’s the way that messages are put across in time of war.

Propaganda is rapidly becoming the norm.

It’s effective – it gets the job done quicker than more civilized methods of marketing.

It simplifies things down to those binary choices that I’ve discussed before.

All this ‘stuff’ goes in whether we like it or not.

What can we do about it?

How do we avoid making decisions influenced by all this questionable ‘data’?

Well, there are some effective techniques we can learn such as Ho’oponopono, the Hawaiian ritual that basically means ‘making things right’ which will ‘clean’ or suppress the unwanted data and memories we have in our subconscious.

But there is an easier way – well perhaps ‘simpler’ would have been a better word because sometimes, as you and I know, it isn’t all that ‘easy’.

It’s called ‘choice’.

You and I have to choose. We have to choose how we think and choose what we do.

You and I are the creators of our own reality.

We become what we choose to become.

Whatever ‘happens’ in our lives is the result of a choice we made.

And that includes contracting a disease or getting knocked down by a bus as the saying goes.

Nothing happens ‘to’ us.

Everything that occurs in our lives happens through us, through the choices we make.

And it may be that those choices were made earlier in our lives, not necessarily immediately before a particular incident, occurrence or decision.

And a decision by the way is not a choice, it’s a result of a choice.

“To be or not to be – that is the question”.

But let me get back to this concept of ‘peace of mind’.

That state that is being held up as some sort of ‘ideal’ – something that everyone should have.

Really? Is that what we really want?

To be static – to be ‘secure’ to be ‘certain’, which as I discussed last week are not necessarily the states we really want to be in.

‘Peace of Mind’ stands for the status quo – it means that the mind is at peace, quiet, not doing anything.

And that’s just what it’s promotors want.

For people to quiet their minds, stop thinking, and follow wherever they are led.

But you and I aren’t going to fall for that are we?

We’re going to keep our minds ‘open’ – we’re going to use them to think, and to help us with that we’re going to make choices.

We’re going to ‘clear’ as much of the unwanted ‘data’ as we can and make our choices based on what we know to be ‘real’ -even though it might not be ‘tangible’.

But to do that you and I need to figure out what actually is ‘real’ for us because only then can we make the right choices for our immediate or long term future.

It’s easier than you might think.

I know what’s ‘real’ for me

How about you?