The Environment Around Us Has The Power to Change Our behavior
And our way of thinking that ultimately affects our choices and overall destiny.
Childhood is the root, and youth is the trunk that supports the tree of our life.
Some of us grew up in poverty, and others around wealth. The experiences of our childhood have a ripple effect on our youth and overall our behavior in adulthood.
Our way of thinking would be even different if we were born in another country with different cultures and languages.
Do you think you would be thinking the same way as right now?
The environment in which we remain shapes our behavior, and the longer we stay in it, the difficult it will be to change that acquired behavior.
There is a saying in my country: “If you hang out at the hairdresser for too long, one day you’ll get an unwanted haircut.”
I have decided to examine all this in search of why we do what we do and behave in a certain way. My heart intends to discover why some people behave carelessly, destroy themselves, and how just a tiny percentage figure out life.
If you already know me, you are going to say now, “here he comes again with his homeless stories.”
The truth is that there is no more visible scar in my heart than that of having lived that situation raw. And for me, deciphering how I got out of the abyss of alcoholism and transmitting it, I might help someone or even save a life.
I did not approach writing in search of money and fame. Instead, to see my face in a mirror and discover myself. I have often said that writing and reading saved my life through intense therapy, venting my thoughts and filling my mind with wisdom.
My life as an alcoholic was like the effect of a snowball rolling down the hill. The moment came when I couldn’t stop myself. The way I hooked up to the drink shaped everything I did.
The approach to drinking is different for everyone. However, to me, it’s like walking a fine line, or better to say, on a tightrope. If you are careless, at any moment, you could fall.
I remember the first months in the shelter; I drank beer daily, but I met the burning water there. The day that a drinking comrade invited me to try Vodka, I rejected it, and he told me sarcastically, “you can’t handle the truth.”
It looked like he was offering me the red pill in one hand and the blue one in the other. I chose the red one and almost ended up dead.
Now I see how being connected to that environment for an extended time changed my behavior towards drinking— I went downhill.
I realized that habits and behaviors work for our benefit or against us. But there are ways to modify them.
Put it this way; Our mind is the most complex computer that has ever existed. Our eyes connect to our brain through sensitive nerves, just as the camera connects through software to the hardware of a computer— the motherboard.
Are you following me? Don't get bored; this is only going to get better.
If we alter the camera’s configuration (the settings), we make it work to our liking— zooming the focus in or out.
Where your focus goes, your energy follows.
An example: when I drive, sometimes inadvertently, I steer to where I am looking. I get a little out of my lane.
So if we focus on what benefits us and discard what is not convenient, we can alter our behavior, choices, and overall destiny.
I know that what I say sounds too easy. It took me half a decade of homelessness to figure it out—that’s a lot of stumbles in life. That is the reason for this article; to save you headaches or maybe your life.
I had to declare war on myself to achieve it, but it was worth the fight. Through my restoration, I discovered that I was my own worst enemy.
I leave you with these excerpts borrowed from Marc Summers' book “Declare War On Yourself.”
(I have no affiliation to any link, and I only share it because I know how valuable it is).
You don’t have the power to control the people, situations, and circumstances around you. You only have the power to control yourself. Getting your act together means you’re going to war with yourself and destroying the thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and habits that are holding you back and keeping you from being the person you want to be.
The enemy is the person inside that wants to continue making bad choices because they “feel” good. The enemy is the person inside who doesn’t want to separate themselves from the people, places, and things that are negative, destructive, and counterproductive— Marc Summers’
Thanks for reading.
TOGETHER WE CAN LEARN BETTER.
To live a better life: discover keystone habits that create a ripple effect, whose benefits expand to other areas of your life and, over time, improve it as a whole.
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