Do we block change?
Posted: April 24th, 2009 | Author: Ann | Filed under: Opinion | Tags: Ann Brampton, Change, Costa Rica, mental fart, pedo mental |Found this on the net… interesting questions. My thoughts? Yes we do, in Spanish we call them pedos mentales, which basically means “mental farts”. I think we all have the power of decision, no matter what the subject, but we also have a great power to sabotage ourselves along the way…
Why are we able to easily change some things and not others has intrigued us to the point of creating a whole self-help industry to answer that question. We have all made decisions or reacted to changes beyond our control with absolutely no problem. We just did it. So what is the stumbling block to the changes we want to make but can’t seem to do?
Perhaps it is two simple words that create the block. Those two words are “I am”. I am fat, I am stupid, I am no good at ….., I am ….? Whatever we say to ourselves and others is what we are because it is a belief we have created for ourselves and no one knows us like we do so, it has to be true and thus we build our beliefs on who we are and how we function in this world of ours. It really is about our reality and only has to make sense to ourselves.
Perhaps the solution to change is simply deciding that “We are” something different and train ourselves to live that way just the way we taught ourselves to live the way we no longer want
Your thoughts?
by Peter Haslam
The War of Art is a great book that deals with “blocks”. We face resistance every time we aim at doing something. The book is an exploration of the subject.
I like your idea of it being a result of I am-ness. Identifying. Yes a solution would be identifying with a different I am.
One thing that works for me is just avoiding the creation of a self image, so for instance if someone tells me: ¨your´re fat…¨ that´s Ok. I don´t see my self as being slim and fit, neither as fat, so in a way is just being without an adjective describing yourself.
In regards to change one of the must difficult things to confront is angst, not knowing what is going to happen, and the only thing that is certain is that you cannot possibly know the consequences of a decision. Sartre´s books can be really good to find out more about this.
Great post, got me thinking for a while!