We are born with what some psychologists call a “clean slate”. From the moment we enter the world the brainwashing begins. Our relationship and interaction with our family begins to brainwash us for good or bad as we begin our life. Then, school and church begin to brainwash us as we grow older and mature into teenagers. As teenagers, our peers begin to brainwash us with their beliefs. Commercials, television, and billboards brainwash us constantly. Brainwashing can be positive or negative. The point is that whatever we allow ourselves to see, hear, or believe brainwashes us. We may choose our beliefs about a certain advertisement, but some form of brainwashing is taking place.

When I was working at my last job which I hated for the last four years of the eleven years I was consumed with negative thoughts. The environment was negative, the people were negative, so I was negative. I made a decision somewhere in that four years to consciously brainwash myself rather than unconsciouisly allow the brainwashing to occur. I began to read books from people whose lives I admired. I filled my head with the thoughts of those men and women who had done extraordinary things in the world. I turned off our cable, and I stopped watching or reading anything that would hinder the brainwashing I was performing on myself. I stopped listening to the radio, and instead, I purchased audiobooks that I listened to whenever I was driving. My life began to change.

Nothing happens over night. It took years of layering over the previous brainwashing before the new brainwashing began to take hold. We hear many things constantly from an early age; we hear them so much that we begin to believe that they are our own thoughts. What kinds of thoughts am I refering to? Here is a short list.

  1. 9 out of 10 businesses fail, so business is hard.
  2. Graduate, go to college, get a good job, and everything will be ok.
  3. Half of all marriages end in divorce, so yours probably will to.
  4. Money doesn’t grow on trees, so you probably won’t have any.
  5. The rich are greedy.
  6. Money is the root of all evil. (we always leave off the love of money)
  7. Your home is your biggest asset.
  8. You are stuck in the middle class.
  9. The middle class can’t get ahead.
  10. Don’t get your hopes up, so you won’t get let down.

The list could go on and on for days, but we need to question our beliefs from time to time and really decide if those belief are limiting or empowering. It doesn’t matter if it is right, if the belief doesn’t serve us, we need to change or at least reframe the belief. Instead of allowing outside influences to brainwash us, we must brainwash ourself. We can’t choose what commercial pops up on the television, but we can choose whether we watch television and what we watch when we do. We can’t control what billboards are on the side of the road as we drive, but we can control what we listed to in our car. We can’t choose the thoughts that pop in our head, but we can choose the thoughts we dwell on. We can choose what we focus on, and by changing what we focus on, we begin to change our lives.

Love you guys,

Carll Field

If you want a list of the books and programs I used to brainwash myself, leave a comment!

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/70554-puppets/