With virtually all of main stream media in a chaotic fit over Trumps recent tariff rollout, I decided to sit down with ChatGPT and have an adult discussion about the President's strategy, and what he hopes to accomplish by turning the world upside down. Also a suggested "To-Do" list for congress, to support the tariffs with the appropriate legislative action, such as making the Trump Tax Cuts permanent. The reader will gain a greater appreciation for the use of tariffs and how they can benefit the USA and it's trading partners by leveling the playing field so that some nations to not have an unfair advantage against American companies inside the USA. (This is a PDF document and it may be increased to a readable size using the - and + signs on the pdf menu bar)
 When I was a little girl, I wanted to do things that boys could do. Most of my neighborhood friends were boys. I played soccer with them, rode bikes with them, fought with them, built secret forts in the woods, and climbed the tallest trees I could find. In short, I was a "tom-boy", the nickname for girls who wanted to do boy stuff.
I liked to play sports and wear jeans. Even THAT was an issue when I was a kid. Girls were supposed to wear dresses, and I hated that with a passion. Wearing lacy slips that scratched and itched, under an uncomfortable polyester Easter dress, patent leather shoes that hurt like the dickens, and white gloves! Add the Easter hat, and well, you get the idea. The hot south Georgia weather made that outfit so sticky and uncomfortable to wear. It was as if girls were supposed to be miserable, while guys just wore pants and shirts, and could sit without crossing their legs. I dreaded holidays like Easter, because I knew I’d be miserable all day, sweating like a pig, plus with a dress on, I couldn’t go out and play. It all made me want to be a boy. One thing girls absolutely did not do in the 1960’s was play drums. I fell in love with music and especially drumming, in my early teens. I wanted to study drums and join the school band, but in those days girls simply were not allowed to be drummers. I settled for trombone, LOL, somehow that was more “lady-like”. During the 15 years that I played drums professionally, I was constantly reminded that “girls don’t play drums”. I ignored all the gender hype, and just became a drummer. I knew what I wanted to do, and I did it. It didn't matter that I was a girl, I could work just as hard as a boy, and I did. I set out to become a "great" drummer and I was highly successful at it for 15 years. And I didn't even have to have male hormones or a genital transplant. It was a great achievement for me when "the boys" started hiring me to be their drummer. In fact, my female voice proved to be a valuable asset as well. I was hired over many better male drummers because I could sing the "girl" songs. You can be what you want to be in America, and you don't have to change your gender to do it. Frankly, if gender transition had been a “thing” in 1965, I would have probably fallen for it hook, line and sinker. Looking back on it now, 60+ years later, I’m soooo glad that we kids didn’t have such deceptive ideas foisted upon us. We played together but we all KNEW we were boys or girls, and it had to stay that way. There was no other option. Our day to day lives revolved around our roles as a male or female. It gave us an anchor to build our lives upon.. We were taught that we need to become responsible adults, and responsible fathers and mothers. Raising children isn't just what we do today, it's going to dictate how life goes for many years to come. A compass is oriented to North, South, East and West. Without the correct orientation, a compass is worthless. Humans who re-orient their lives around something that is fundamentally untrue are heading in the wrong direction. This will lead to bitterness and disappointment later in life. You can't build a successful, happy life around something that is fundamentally UNTRUE. It's no better than building a house without a foundation. Sooner or later, that house will crumble away. Without the basic fundamentals of an organized society, the society is doomed to break down. We are already reaping what we have sewn, but the harvest to be reaped from altering the very fabric of society has yet to come to full fruition. But I can assure you it won’t be pretty. Transgenderism, like many other "ism's", should not be practiced on children that are too young to understand the consequences. Indeed the parents who support such ideas have no concept of how this will affect their families in the years to come. Parents must protect their children from lies and deception. When the parents become deceived and subject to the same lies, they are unable to protect their children. I am grateful for a mother who had a strong sense of right and wrong, and imparted this to her children early in our lives. Any mother who takes her 3 or 4 year old child to a drag queen "reading hour", and gives the kid money to place in a drag queens’s thong or whatever, is making a mistake that will cost them dearly in the future. Those of us who are 60 years old and above, we have already lived this truth, and are still experiencing the outcomes of how we raised our kids. It is NOT my intention to demonize any person who believes that they are a “tranny”. But rather, I am trying to warn people out of love. This deception is driven by profit motives in the medical industry, ideological motives driven by our enemies, and a global elite who are anxiously trying to control population growth by any means possible. (Abortion, homosexuality, transgender surgery, social controls, etc.) Our government has become the chief exporter of these common population control strategies. The idea of personal freedom is just the bait that gets the fish to bite. This is NOT about “personal freedom” “finding yourself” or any other tempting personal notion. Changing your gender will NOT empower you, it will weaken you, physically and financially. It’s about permanently altering your life in ways that are irreversible. It’s about giving up a family, because two women who give birth to artificially impregnated babies, is NOT the same as having a real family with a Father, Mother, boys and girls. Those who take this road are headed for the proverbial cliff. Our society readily objects to experimenting on animals, yet we are experimenting with an entire generation of human beings. You may totally agree with me, or you may be outraged by now. But I can assure you of this: Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived—God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also shall reap. Teach your children well. What you do today will come back upon you in the years to come. One morning, many years ago, I was washing dishes while listening to a bible study program on the radio. I didn't know much about the bible back then, some 40 years ago, but I knew, even at the age of 20, that I needed to know what this book actually said, as opposed to what other people claimed it said. My roommate, Margie, walked in just as I was finishing up the dishes. Noticing the bible study program on the radio, she commented, "I just don't like what the bible says about women". Being rather new to bible study, I asked her, "What does the bible say about women?" Margie, who attended Catholic school as a kid, looked thoughtful for a second, then turned to me with a sheepish grin on her face and said "I don't know". We both sort of giggled and shared an "ah-ha" moment. Neither one of us knew what the bible actually said about women, or what it said about anything else for that matter. But it was a wake up call for me personally. I decided then and there that I would dedicate some free time to discovering as much as I could about the bible and what it really does have to say. And with regard to women in general, there is no more liberating passage about women and their significance to society, than Proverbs, Chapter 31. It contains the definitive bible passage on this topic. And it doesn't say a thing about keeping women "barefoot and pregnant". In case you don't have a bible handy, I've included the passage here, for your reference. As you will see, the bible defined "women's lib" thousands of years before "modern" women decided to burn their bras. Which, I've also discovered, was not a good idea. LOL. The following text is taken from the King James Bible & edited slightly for modern english. Pro 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Pro 31:11 The heart of her husband does safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Pro 31:12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Pro 31:13 She seeks wool, and flax, and works willingly with her hands. Pro 31:14 She is like the merchants' ships; she brings her food from afar. Pro 31:15 She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and a portion to her maidens. Pro 31:16 She considers a field, and buys it: with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. Pro 31:17 She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms. Pro 31:18 She perceives that her merchandise is good: her candle goes not out by night. Pro 31:19 She lays her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. Pro 31:20 She stretches out her hand to the poor; yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. Pro 31:21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. Pro 31:22 She makes herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Pro 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. Pro 31:24 She makes fine linen, and sells it; and delivers fabrics unto the merchant. Pro 31:25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. Pro 31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom; and on her tongue is the law of kindness. Pro 31:27 She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness. Pro 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. Pro 31:29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but you excel them all. Pro 31:30 Flattery is deceitful, and beauty fades: but a woman that obeys the LORD, she shall be praised. Pro 31:31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. I readily admit that I can't sew, but I believe that the general intent of the passage is that women can be creative, skilled, intelligent, deal makers, money makers, and diligent workers whose efforts will bless herself, her spouse, and her family. I hope my former roommate has also found this truth as well. She has been a hard working woman who owned her own business, was faithful to her husband and raised a fine son. He is now married and a father. Surely Margie's example will be a blessing to her son as well as his wife and children.
Did you know that the healing power of God is still readily available to you today? But we've been told various lies about the healing power of God. These lies have the effect of keeping us from accessing that power. The truth is, Jesus was not only a healer himself, when he walked upon the earth, but through His death and resurrection, He made it possible for us to actually obtain the same power that He used for his healing work. Yes it IS true, the healing power of God is something you may already have access to, but because of lies and "religious beliefs" that power may have been hidden from you.
I love the analogy of electrical power, as a way of describing our access to the healing power of God, through Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. (Yeshua to the Jews, Isa to the muslims). In America, we are used to having the ability to access electrical power any time we wish. But we are also aware that there are certain rules we need to follow, in order to use this power properly. When we want to turn on our lights or heat up the oven in our stove, we don't call the power company and say "I need some electricity, please turn on my lights." If we did, the power company would say "Hey dummy, the power is already there and working, you just need to flip the switch to turn it on." It's the same way with the power of God, which is transmitted through His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the source of the power that we can use in our lives, according to the will of God. And the truth is, it really IS God's will that we live in healing and health. If you are not absolutely sure that this is true, and can be true for you too, just take the time to carefully read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and especially John, which focuses on these miracles, and contains Jesus actual words he spoke to his disciples concerning the power that he intended to give them. One of the objectives of Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, was to conquer death, hell and the grave, and to offer this power to his followers, through the Holy Spirit, which Jesus refers to in the gospel of John as "The Comforter and Counselor" who would come to them to give them power. And indeed, this is what happened on the day of Pentecost, 40 days after Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. On that one day, many miracles began to happen, and the disciples began to manifest the same power to heal the sick and cast out devils, that Jesus had displayed while he walked upon the earth. And the Holy Spirit is STILL HERE TODAY. But the lies of the devil and religious traditions have hindered the truth and kept most people in the dark, unable to even know that they have access to this power, if they will only "flip the switch" and turn it on. Ephesians Chapter 1 actually says that God intended to reveal to his saints - those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Messiah - that we now have access to the same power that raised Christ from the dead. This is an incredible truth that has been hidden from most of us: Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Did you know that there are many healing ministries around today? In order to access this power you need to know how it works. With that in mind, here are some links to some current healing ministries who are helping people understand the truth about the power of God that is available to you right now:
On Youtube: ​
I'd also strongly recommend watching the healing testimonies on Andrew Wommack's website: AWMI.net
Andrew is the founder of Charis Bible College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. His teaching is available online free of charge and he also has a regular live streaming Healing School on Thursday Afternoons local time. Check it out and discover the truth for yourselves. God wants you healed and through Jesus Christ, He has given you access to the same power that Jesus used! Glory To God! The links above are only a couple. There are many more, some historical such as John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth and Kathryn Kuhlman. Other current ministries include Reinhard Bonnke, founder of Christ For All Nations, and many more. Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
This question has been debated through the centuries, but it does seem somewhat obvious that the answer lies in a fundamental truth regarding reproduction. That is the requirement for the presence of a male seed and a female receiver. Without that there are no eggs for breakfast and no chickens for dinner. Thus if chickens were allowed a free choice, they might just undermine our food supply. Good thing chickens can't decide to just do something different from what the fundamental laws of nature require, in order to function as expected. We think we can change these fundamental laws but we cannot. We can pretend that they have changed, but they have not. What does change are the consequences of our actions. The condition of a society is the direct result of that society's collective actions. The consequences of all of the choices made each day in each society. These consequences manifest themselves at each level of society. Sweeping changes in men's laws, which ignore the fundamental laws of nature will lead to unexpected outcomes. In the past 40 years we've seen many sweeping changes that have ignored significant fundamental laws of nature. One such example is the so-called "womens-lib" movement back in the 1960's when women longed to be "free" to compete with men "equally". One unexpected outcome of this push for "equality" has been the increase in violence against women. The fundamental truth is that women and men are not "equal" physically. Of course the human mind and ability to think is open to both male and female, but there is little question that men have certain physical advantages in strength over women. Today, after a generation of "equality", men no longer view women as "the weaker sex" to be respected and cared for. Today women are "equal" competitors with men. As such, instead of respecting women, men view them as just another foe to be conquered. Older women who today are in their 50's, 60's and up, can recall a time when women and young girls never gave a thought to walking home alone from a bus stop or the local elementary school. There was little concern when the 12 year-olds decided to go to the shopping mall to hang out all day with other friends from school. But this kind of sense of safety and security has disappeared along with the general respect for women that used to exist in our culture. Today, violence against women is so rampant that it's difficult to keep up with. In Atlanta, GA, in the mid 1960's the still-unsolved case of the disappearance of Mary Little captivated the entire city for months, simply because this sort of event was highly unusual. Today, In altering the fundamental relationship between women and men, we have unwittingly created a society where men and women compete like any other animal in nature, thus making women the prey of the "stronger sex" as a result. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, there is little question that aborting 45 million individuals has permanently altered the composition of the society. We all know from basic science classes this fundamental law: "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". What we may not realize is that this law also applies to our society, just as it applies to a bouncing ball. When you pass a law legalizing what is fundamentally illegal, you may be allowed to take a certain action, but you cannot escape the "equal and opposite reaction" that will surely result. Whatever our choices may be, we can be sure that "our sins will find us out". Sinning is basically the act of disobeying fundamental laws. Once we upset the natural order of things across an entire society, that society cannot survive. Things will happen that we do not expect, and those "things" will become more difficult to control over time. Following fundamental laws of nature insures that we "have life and have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows". Interrupting or altering those fundamental laws can only lead to an "equal and opposite reaction". And that reaction can lead to major societal problems such as violence against women, rampant murders, child abuse, broken families, animal abuse, ineffective government at all levels, deception and war. Yes our world is indeed becoming more "progressive" but the question is "what are we progressing towards?"  photo courtesy of LibertyNews.com When NBC News anchor Brian Williams was recently caught up in a scandal of his own making, it revealed a truth about our modern culture and how anxious we are to use lies to further our own agenda.
His lies probably did not seem like lies when he told them over and over at public events, many of which were recorded on video. He probably did not realize that he was unwittingly setting a trap for himself by lying about details and incidents that others also experienced. Even though Mr. Williams knew that there were plenty of witnesses around who could dispute his version of events, he proceeded to fabricate these details and events as if they were absolute truth. And when you have a national platform, as Mr. Williams did, in which to fabricate more and more lies about people, places and things, it's just a matter of time before someone said "hey, I was there too and what he's saying is simply not true". Mr. Williams however, also had a marketing slogan attached to his name. As the NBC Nightly News Anchorman, he had ascended to a position of power in news media that few ever reach. Being an anchor for one of the "big 3" broadcast networks in the USA is pinnacle of career achievement in American journalism. As such, Mr. Williams was touted as "The most trusted man in America". Now that the smoke has cleared and Brian Williams has been exposed as "the most famous liar in America", he has destroyed his journalism career and has lost his position as the top news anchor at NBC. To boot, he has become the butt of endless jokes about his news coverage. In his attempts to make himself look better than he was by lying about events that he reported on, he has exposed himself as just another human being who has been deceived by his own delusions. With ample video and audio evidence of his lies and half-truths, Brian Williams has joined a club populated by many other "has-beens" who have attempted to lie to either make themselves look good, or to cover up known sins that they knew they would be criticized for if exposed. But who among us could stand up to the scrutiny to which Brian Williams has been subjected? If someone were to replay a video or audio recording of everything you have ever said or done, would they find your lies as well? While Brian Williams, as a news anchor, charged with a sacred public trust, he got what he deserved. But lets keep in mind that we all will eventually face a day in which our own words and deeds will be made public before God and man. When that day comes, will you be found to be truthful or a liar? Mat 12:33 Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit. Mat 12:34 You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. Mat 12:35 The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. Mat 12:36 But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. Mat 12:37 For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced. Matthew 24:3 While He was seated on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately and said, Tell us, when will this take place, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end (the completion, the consummation) of the age?
Mat 24:4 Jesus answered them, "take heed that no man deceive you." In the above passage, the word translated "deceive" in the King James version is the Greek word "planao", which specifically implies "roaming from the truth". Today we have created tremendous problems in our society because of our willingness to roam from absolute truth in favor of what we want to believe is true. But what we believe has no basis in absolute truth, unless we are willing to face truth for what it is, not what we wish it was or want it to be. This is where most people go astray in their lives. We are making important life decisions based on what we believe to be true, not what actually IS true. In so doing, we roam from the truth and become self-deceived or seduced into believing the lies other roamers have created. The rise of digital technology, along with the internet and social media have made a way for deceivers of all shapes and sizes to go about the business of creating their own version of "truth". Everyday we are exposed to thousands of pieces of information designed to get us to believe something or take some particular action. Thanks to digital imaging programs, even photos or videos cannot be trusted to be true. If the information happens to agree with our existing perceptions, we are much more likely to believe it is true simply because it "confirms" something we already believe. Most of us can't bear the prospect of admitting we might actually be wrong or 'misinformed'. The news media knows this and plays on our personal opinions and beliefs every day via news stories designed and purposely written to get us to agree or get us to get mad because we disagree. Often the stories do not even include the pertinent facts. Most of the news stories we are subjected to day after day are now based on sensational topics for their attention-getting ability rather than any real attempt to expose the true facts or circumstances for what they are. News services have split into camps that openly promote the version of events that they "feel" is correct or "right". There is no longer any pretense of independent, journalistic professionalism, it's all about what the audience wants to hear. Or rather, what those particular reporters believe. Never mind the facts or evidence that could lead to the real truth. The only people who cannot be deceived are those who are willing to see the evidence for truth and accept it for what it is. Only when we leave our personal opinions and agendas out of the equation, can we know and discern the real truth about anything. Trouble is, most people would rather "roam from the truth" in favor of their personal opinions or agenda. Are you deceived? If you believe that your opinions are evidence of the truth-- as opposed to examining the evidence available, then the truth is, you are deceived.  Today I heard a meteorologist mention that the 2013 - 2014 winter season was the very first time that the city of Philadelphia had 6 storms that each dumped 6" of snow or more. Indeed it has been a winter to remember. Atlanta, GA had two major snow storms within two weeks, an event that had never occurred in my lifetime. And I've been around for 57 years. It seems like this must be one of the worst winters in history. Or is it? History is a long time. My 57 years is nothing more than a fleeting moment, in the context of history and time.
As monumental as this winter has been, it's probably a pretty small event on a time line that includes many such winters, and many much worse, that have come through here in the course of history. They are big to us because they happen in our lifetime, in our span of history. Our perspective on all major life events, weather events, sports, growing up and living and dying is actually very, very tiny. People define truth to be what we think it is, based on our perspective and our personal experiences. Yes its true that this was the biggest snow storm I've seen in my lifetime, but all in all, that's a very short period of time, where weather is concerned. Truth and Life (as in the "force", that drives all living things) supersede all of our collective human experiences. It may come a surprise to many, but believing something does not make it true. Rewriting history to fit our current definition of truth will only change our books, it can't change the history that went before. If we are wise, we will come to realize that we must seek the real truth for what it is, rather than inventing our own version of truth to make us feel more comfortable with ourselves. With the passing of time, the older person realizes what the younger one cannot know - that is that life is short and truth is absolute and not subject to our perspective or opinions.  One of the greatest tenets of American life is the principle of the "Freedom of the Press".
In the US Constitution Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press were considered to be two of the most important concepts of a free republic. (we are not a "democracy" we are a "republic", though few in government or the media seem to know this) Freedom of speech and freedom of the press was intended to safeguard the citizens by helping to insure that lying politicians and others in a position of influence could not use lies to mislead the people. The press has always been considered to be the "gatekeepers" of freedom in America, by virtue of their legally protected ability to expose the wrong doings and lies of those in power. In nations where there is no freedom of speech, such as China and Russia, people are regularly jailed for trying to expose the lies of their government leaders. When the newspapers, bloggers, television personalities and political operatives in the United States begin to cover up lies to protect leaders, it puts the entire nation in jeopardy. I believe that this is one of the great threats to American life today - A media complex that is willing to cover up lies for leaders that they support. Regardless of party affiliation, covering up lies to enable lying politicians and bureaucrats to get their way and mislead people will always result in less freedom for all of us. Eventually, if allowed to go on long enough it will allow despotic leaders to take control and manipulate the people for greedy personal gain. Without a free press that is willing to remain independent and expose the lies of either side, public policy is doomed to be manipulated by the few in power, at the expense of the citizens. In fact, we've already gone so far down this road that government officials frequently change the rules for reporting various types of information, such as employment and inflation data, to cover up the poor job that they are doing. Most of the time, few to no media people even both to question the validity of the data that has been produced. The press is often made up of younger people who have already been heavily influenced in college towards one set of beliefs or another, regardless of truth. These "journalists" as they are called, often feel it is their duty to protect whichever party seems to be in agreement with what the "journalist" believes or "was taught" is true, Regardless of whether it really is true or not. They are not doing their jobs and they are leaving the entire nation vulnerable to manipulation. This is how many countries go from being "free" to being a totalitarian state where millions of people are then executed because they do not follow the official state version of the "truth". Did you know that communist China was once a free nation? But in the 1940's after the communists took over, they began a full scale crackdown on the nation, killing more than 30 million chinese citizens in the process of "cleansing" the nation of any opposition. Today the chinese press is tightly controlled by the government. The citizens have few legal rights and are told what to do and how to live. They have an internet, but it is closed to the outside world. The Chinese people can only read and hear what the government allows them to read and hear. They are also told by an obedient press that things in China are fine and that Chinese people have it better than anyone else in the world. All you have to do to avoid being jailed or killed is to believe what you are told, don't ask any questions, follow the official party line. The same thing is true of Russia. Before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 Russia was also a free, Christian nation. All of this changed in just a few years. Once Joseph Stalin took power in the early 1920's he ordered that everyone follow every word he said as if it were absolute truth. If you refused, you were promptly sent to prison or executed. Germany under Adolf Hitler was another example. He also had his media managers who made sure that Hitler always looked good and helped to eliminate any opposition. The result was the holocaust. Hundreds of millions or even billions of people have been executed over the years by governments who made sure that the media or "the press" were tightly controlled and produced stories that always supported the party line. The press was instrumental in helping these evil rulers lie so as to manipulate and control the people. If the press in America does not work hard to maintain it's objective independence and focus on exposing the lies of it's leaders, regardless of which party they belong to, we could end up losing our freedoms to despotic leaders that will destroy this nation and take away our freedoms. There is no more important job in a free country than to safeguard the real truth so that despotic, lying, deceptive leaders cannot gain power.  What are you saying to yourself? What messages or beliefs do you regularly hear inside your "heart" or "mind"? What message does your memory playback to you over and over? Do you have "positive" or "negative" thoughts about yourself and / or others? Do your thoughts tell you what to do, or are you controlling and developing your thoughts? Are you "fearful", "happy", "up", "down" most of the time?
Whatever your answer to the above questions may be, the ultimate result is that our thoughts contain our version or interpretation of the world around us; what we perceive as our version of "truth". It's what we believe. We take action on what we believe. And what we believe is equivalent to the self-talk that plays in our minds 24 hours a day. If we learn to examine our own self-talk, if we step back and look inside ourselves to become aware of what we are thinking about and how those thoughts are creating our actions on a day to day basis, we are able to discard those thoughts that we can verify are not true. For example, many years ago I decided that I could not become a professional singer because I "thought" I was not good enough. A fearful personal belief about my singing controlled my decision making, and I eventually gave up rather than continue to focus on getting better and developing my skills as a vocalist. My self-talk at that time was full of fear and that fear in turn controlled my actions without me even realizing it until years later, when I had finally developed an ability to see myself from outside myself. When that flash of insight finally developed in me after many years of working towards it, I began to understand just how I had self-sabotaged my career in different ways at different times in my life. And it all began with negative self-talk that undermined my confidence and filled me with fearful thoughts. Once I believed those fearful thoughts, I acted on them by avoiding the thing that I feared. In doing that, I sabotaged a singing career that could have been very successful. Wise old country folks have another way of saying this - "you don't know your butt from a hole in the ground, and you don't even know that you don't know your butt from a hole in the ground". Millions of people are afflicted by a belief system that is wrong, but they do not even know they are wrong. This most often happens when we are teenagers. As teenagers most of us think we know everything, and have no idea of how little we actually do know. And many of those teenagers go on to become adults in positions of power who still have no clue. Large groups of such people, in government for example, can bring a nation to it's knees and damage all of it's citizens permanently by making bad decisions that become a burden on the people. Successful companies can be destroyed by executives who have deceived themselves. Ken Lay was the CEO of Enron at the time of it's collapse in the early 2000's. Enron and it's employees were destroyed by their bosses who were driven by greedy self-talk and false beliefs about their own infallibility, Ken Lay tried to defend himself by claiming that he had no knowledge of the manifold scams that top Enron executives had perpetrated. Scams that ultimately destroyed a rich, successful company from the inside. If Mr. Lay really had not been aware of those scams, he was a prime example of a phony leader who truly "did not know his butt from a hole in the ground". He was either living a lie about his own competence, or living a lie about how well Enron was doing. But in either case he was living a lie. In the end, Lay died of a heart attack before he could go to trial over the enormous web of lies that Enron executives had created. Self awareness and specifically awareness of our self-talk will give us insight into the truth about ourselves. Be bold enough to examine your thoughts, and discover how they could be leading you to self destruction. It sometimes takes years for wrong beliefs to catch up with us, but as we get older, the day of reckoning does come to each one of us. Many wake up realizing that they have wasted their entire lives on wrong beliefs. Living a life of regret only leads to sorrow later in life. Being bold enough to live a life of truth, no matter what kind of self-talk you must give up to get there, will result in a life well lived, and joy in our later years, instead of guilt or regret. Start today to become aware of what you "say to yourself" on a constant basis. We can only transform our lives if we are willing to transform our minds by accepting the truth and working with it instead of against it. |
