When do You question what you believe?

Is there a difference between knowing and believing?

I often say the best way to get an answer is to ask a question. When we look at the vast amount of information that is present and then consider how much of that information do we each either have access to, have experienced or even just heard of, our actual knowledge base begins to become relatively small.

 

There are so many sources of information; books, television and print media, mentors, friends, clergy and just BEING, to name a few.. When we attain it, it becomes knowledge. The practical application of that knowledge can be considered wisdom. When we are acutely aware in our Life Experience, we will see that everyone and everything is our teacher. In our grasping that concept,  we would do well to start considering each of our sources of information and their sources as well as their intent in providing us with that information.

Just because we know something doesn’t necessarily mean that it is right, wrong, true or false. It is the same with a belief. Some of the sources of our beliefs are from persons we never met whom lived hundreds or thousands of years ago. So if you were present when that information was first divulged, would you have readily accepted that information? When you receive information now from someone you know or have heard of, do you just accept it or are you skeptical or possibly endeavor in some research? In some cases, what would make you accept something from some source you have never seen while rejecting it from a source that you know? Being a contemporary in the age of information you are using to base your beliefs on can be a challenge either to accept or reject particularly if we do not research the sources.

What is a belief? Is it synonymous with a fact? One way to look at a belief is that it is an opinion of a person or group of persons based on their perspective of gathered information. A fact is information that even when observed from different points of view can be determined as true from all sides. Beliefs can be based on facts but are rarely facts themselves but rather information that is used to bolster or validate our opinion or point of view. This is where the questioning of our beliefs can become a beginning of a learning process; because sometimes we have to unlearn what we know and believe in order to gain new perspectives.

When we seek to understand first our own reasons for having certain beliefs, then understanding that there are over 7 billion persons on this planet with varying beliefs, we can then also begin to look at what another person believes not as a point of contention or division but as another way to see things. Not right or wrong, just different; and that’s OK.

Tony Sellaway

Author, Life: Without the Rose Tinted Glasses

www.TonySellaway.com

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Your diet? YOU ARE what You eat…

Water exists is several forms, similarly; We also have several forms.

Water can be liquid, steam, or frozen; and just as water can be present in these different forms, so can a person. Let’s draw an analogy and say that We have a physical body, mental state and a spiritual state. This is also referenced as The Trinity (The Father, Son and Holy Spirit) though we’ll address that at a later time 🙂 When we want to have a healthy, fruitful existence, we should take care of each of our bodies’ states.

Many persons are concerned with their physical body as we see a rise in the obesity rates in many countries. There are a myriad of approaches that one takes to affect one’s physical weight, appearance and well-being. Many say that they are going to go on a diet. Many succeed in losing weight, but many do not or find that their progress is short-lived. What is happening?

We would do well to understand that we are better served by taking a whole Being approach, a (w)holistic manner. What do you mean? A diet is not something you go on, a diet is what you consume. We consume foods and beverages, we read various media, we watch TV and internet media and we have conversations with many persons. These are all forms of consumption. When we realize that our well-being is affected by not just our food consumption, but also our mental and spiritual consumption as well, then we begin the process of whole being improvement.

Most of the news media is not putting out information in a format that makes one feel good. It is more fear based which works on our primal limbic response system of fight, freeze or flight. Give your mind and spirit a break and refrain from watching the news for a few days or even a week and see how you feel.

We also have a choice in the conversations in which we choose to participate. Some persons or topics do not feel good or do not add a positive value to your being. You know when you are in these, that icky feeling,  that down feeling or may I shower now conversation. Give yourself the opportunity not to participate in that particular drama act. It might still be there but you don’t have to.

As we continue to focus on our well-being more than dis-ease, we begin to clean up our consumption habits. As we look for the good, happy, peaceful things that are present in us and our surroundings, our diet improves. After all, we ARE what we eat.

My Love and Peace to You,

Tony Sellaway

Author of Life: Without the Rose Tinted Glasses

www.TonySellaway.com

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It’s Not What You Know…

As we each progress through our Life Experience, we will encounter a person, a place or situation that we are not familiar with. We usually refer to our previous dealings, either consciously or subconsciously. When we don’t have a familiar or maybe a positive recollection to draw from, we often respond with our primal limbic reaction of fight, freeze or flight.

We have to train our minds, our thought patterns and actions to be open to optional,  preferably optimal, outcomes and or connotations. This means sometimes dismissing what we think we know in order to see another point of view.

“If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”

Ayn Rand

Begin to look at each situation with a sense of wonderment and from another’s point of view to broaden your thought patterns. Just to realize that our point of view is not the only point of view is the beginning of a learning process. Now we can open ourselves to a new idea or view rather than closing ourselves down from fear.

Be a willing student in your Life Experience,  it will open so many new doors of information and knowledge which when rightfully applied gives you power. So don’t close your mind off as Mark Twain said, “It’s not what we know or don’t know. It’s what we know that just isn’t so.”

Tony Sellaway
Author of Life:Without the Rose Tinted Glasses
www.tonysellaway.com
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What Do You See?

When you look at another person, what do you see?

You and two associates are in a room awaiting the arrival of a fourth person, whom you have not met before. When the person comes into the room, what do you and your associates see in the person? Each of you will have an assessment of the individual. Will each of you have the same perception? What is that is seen by each person? There will likely be a difference in what each person sees .

One’s perception can be influenced by several factors. We see what we look for. We see what we like or dislike.We see labels. We see what WE ARE. Each person is going to be influenced by some of these factors, and if by the same factors, to varying degrees. So each person has a different perspective when they sum the fourth person of interest up. Now does this mean that the person of interest is three different persons?

This shows us that when we put labels and definitions on others, we are not defining them, we are defining ourselves. When we begin to  look at another person without placing labels upon them and simply as another pleasant spirit having a Life Experience as a human being, just like ourselves, then  maybe when can dissolve the dissimilarities and divisions.

An approach that I like to practice is understanding that many persons believe that the Creator or Universe; you can use whatever name you like; is our source of origin. Many understand the concept of being the children of God. Now here’s my take on this. God has children, but not grandchildren, therefore each person I meet is my Brother or Sister 🙂

Tony Sellaway

Author of Life: Without the Rose Tinted Glasses

www.tonysellaway.com

For Speaking Engagements

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What is it with YOU and Happiness?

What comes out of an orange when it is squeezed?

We might have on some occasion had an opportunity to eat fresh orange. When you squeezed or bit into, after peeling it :), what came from it? Orange juice, yes? As we progress through our Life Experience, we encounter many situations. Each situation is neither good or bad, but rather what we think of it, makes it so. When we decide to look for the lesson in whatever is happening, we tend to learn something and can actually appreciate the present moment as teaching point.

On your daily endeavors, you have a choice as to how you are going to BE, do and view at each Present Moment. How we decide to BE (happy, sad, upset, grateful, etc.) has a profound determination on how we respond to the lesson. In turn, we can respond to rather than react to pressure that is being applied to us. So what we ARE at that moment is important to you well-being or your being in a state of dis-ease. You decide what you want to feel and then BE.

So when we have external pressure exerted on us, what comes out is what is in us. It is not the pressure that determines this, it is what we ARE when the pressure is exerted.

Choose to BE Happy my friends!

Tony Sellaway, Author of Life: Without the Rose Tinted Glasses

www.tonysellaway.com

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What is your point of view?

Have you had an opportunity to view mountains from a distance? What was your impression or thoughts as you looked upon them? Most of us have some form of human interaction on a daily basis. Having to deal with other individuals can have many challenges as well as opportunities. There are lots of ways our encounters can turn. They can be a wonderful experience, they can be difficult or un-fun, or unmemorable; in either case, a lesson is to be learned.

So what does one’s point of view have to do with any of this? Right now, take a look at the person or place that is closest to you. Look for the most beautiful feature in the person or place. What do you see? We tend to see what we look for. Say upon waking in the morning, you decide that today is going to BE a wonderful, productive day. What type of day do you believe will ensue?

Deciding to BE happy in this moment has a definite impact on your outlook. So does the opposite. So looking at the mountains from afar, they appear to have a grand majesty about them when we look at them with a grateful, wondrous attitude. Conversely, with a bad attitude, we just see an obstacle or a long road to have to travel to get around the mountain. Funny thing is that whatever your attitude, you will be right! An optimist might be wrong as often as a pessimist but the journey will be more enjoyable with a bright outlook. When we pay attention to our attitude and point of view that we bring to each situation, we can learn from each encounter.  BE Happy and watch your interactions improve.

My Love to You

Tony Sellaway

Author of Life: Without the Rose Tinted Glasses

www.tonysellaway.com

Tony’s speaking moments

For Speaking engagements