Who taught you how to think?

I’d just like to get your gears turning. If you aren’t interested, feel free to move along. But sadly, even if you have a life outside any social media platform, not everyone does. It seems as if THIS is the new definition of being social. Hidden behind a profile pic and a funny meme. And if you’d like to “unfriend” me, I won’t stop you. Because I’m learning that there is so much to life besides having 5,000 friends that you don’t actually know and getting more “likes” than anyone on a picture. That has become how we see ourselves and formed our sense of self esteem. **Let me start by saying that my life, sometimes, is a mess. I, sometimes, am a mess. I’m a new mom, making new decisions and I do NOT have things remotely figured out so I will no where in this post profess that I am right. But I’m not worried about offending you like I have always been. If you do have things figured out, and you have nothing left to see, hear, or learn. Then you clearly are not listening.** So, who taught you how to think? I don’t mean what to think, although that comes into play of course, but how. Was it your parents? Your pastor? Your doctor? The news/ media? Books? The Bible? School? Your military? Hollywood? Your friends? Who taught you how to take a compilation of all of the things you hear and see and put the together into a belief that you YOURSELF have created in your mind? Did you decide to listen and believe these sources through blind faith? I do think that parts of life require that. But I also believe that I cannot have my beliefs without my WHY. Do you research things you hear by comparing from the media, books, AND your pastor? Or do you hear something from one source, tuck that into your belt of knowledge and continue to grab more as it is given? Do you ever seek out knowledge on your own?

I’m asking this again to get you thoughts moving. Because something has been very lost in translation. Daily I see hate. Daily I see anxiety. Not a day goes by where I don’t see a meme from multiple friends talking about how it’s “too peoplely” or how they’d rather not interact with other humans. Anxiety, and I don’t mean normal anxieties of life, I mean crippling anxiety, is our new descriptor. It is the badge of our people. We live for, from, and by fear.

So who taught you how to think? Why is this? Now, who tells you what to think? Because we are not born with hate, this we all should know. We are not born to fear. But somewhere along the way, we have learned and bred the idea of them both together. We hate those not like us, or with different beliefs, or different ideas, often BECAUSE of fear. Please think about that. If you truly go down to the root of your hate for something, you will find fear. This is not an opinion. Who taught you to fear the things that you do? Who told you that those things could be a threat to you? When I did shows at Moline High School, we would often sneak from the dressing room under the stage through the tunnels under the school. It was creepy, it was dirty, it was dark and abandoned. It seemed to stretch on forever and held so much mystery that I loved! But a teacher told me that it was full of brown recluse spiders. I am terrified of spiders in general, but according to a text book (also at school)that informed, this particular spider was DEADLY. What I heard and what I read both coincided and instilled the knowledge of fear and danger. I had never actually seen one of these spiders myself, but I knew enough to never want to. Maybe I was a dumb kid, but I didn’t let it stop me. I continued to explore the adventure of the unknown, and possibly quite dangerous. I would try to make it the length of the school and get to the opposite end where the pool was located. I proceeded with caution absolutely. I took the information into account but I did not let that fear rule or control me into discontinuing something that I previously enjoyed. The analogy is about spiders because that simplified example is what came to mind. But are you letting fear rule you? Is it a perfectly logical fear? Is it really? Are you letting hate or the root of fear dictate what you say, do, feel, or believe? Why? Question what you are told. If you don’t think that anything is wrong with us, society, world, etc., then you are not listening. Wake up from the cognitive dissonance that has been burned into your entire sense of being. Stop listening to everything you are spoon-fed because THAT is what has made us what we are. Fear and hate have gotten us absolutely nowhere.