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Let’s do a quick recap of our discussions so far. I have been writing about thinking right in my last few posts, and I have brought to the fore a few ideas I sincerely believe are very important. One of them is the very nature of thinking (see When You Sit To Think What Comes To Mind?). As a process, thinking can be very liberating, and useful for us to gain much needed perspective. One thing I am practicing as a person who wants to incorporate thinking in my life daily is thinking before I say anything at all. It’s not been an easy journey but I am happy with how far I have come. Now, I am at a point where I acknowledge that it is not enough to think before I speak. Rather, it is critical to think right before any action at all.
Another aspect of our conversation has been on the role of truth in the practice of right thinking (see What It Means To Think Right—pt. 1). We all want to be strong in character because to some extent, we understand the benefits we stand to reap. In light of this sincere acknowledgement, it becomes self-evident that the way to go is the way of truth! Besides, who would want to build a house on quicksand? Everyone wants their long-term investments to be solid, with a certain sense of permanence about it. It’s why truth cannot be ignored in the equation of character building. In fact, truth is fundamental to right thinking!
As far as benefits go, there are others you can enjoy from thinking right beyond substantiating truth in one’s life and living a life free of self-deception which is a pandemic far worse than COVID-19. With that said, what do you think about choices?
The challenge with choices
Choices are an interesting category to consider in the wider framework of life. Fishing from the river of choices can produce outcomes that will be tantamount to life or death. Think of where you are in your life now, and then string together all the choices that have combined to bring you to this very point. You will begin to realize how powerful a seemingly simple choice actually is. In the face of diverse options, choices can appear trivial. However, they can quickly become daunting when those options are limited and the stakes are raised. While scarcity of options and higher stakes can make a choice weigh heavy, they are not the only factors that regulate the difficulty of making a choice. Matter of fact, the issue of stakes or limited options can be compounded or eased by a most uncontrollable regulator of life itself—time.
It is my conclusion that with enough time, most people would make the right choices. Unfortunately, when it comes to choices, there is never enough time! Even worse, it is usually hard to tell if a choice made was the right choice in the moment it was made without the elapsing of a required amount of time. Fortunately, there is a way to guarantee that you always make the right choices. Do you have any idea what that is?
Thinking right induces right choices
The way to overcome our choice-outcome time limitation and guarantee that every choice is the right choice is to grow in thinking right. The simple truth underlying this concept is that if your mind is always in its right thinking frame, one hundred per cent of the time your choices will be the right ones. As always, the questions is how do I make sure my mind is always in its right thinking frame?
One. Choose thinking right. You have to want to think right all the time.
Two. Surround yourself with truth. Your admission of one, makes two your next step.
Three. Practice living in truth.
I will go into more details on one, two and three later. For now, let’s call it a day. See you in the next one.