Filter Your Senses At An Early Age
How many times a day are your five main senses engaged with an offensive attack on your beliefs or convictions? What have you seen today where the image has left a negative or damaging impression in your mind? What touched you today that made your skin crawl? What sounds have you heard that really are noise and have caused you to lose focus, distracted you from what matters in life? Have you smelled or tasted anything that made your stomach turn or simply made you sick? Our five senses are being overly engaged to get our attention…what can we do about it if we don’t want to give our attention?
Our presence in today’s “civilized” world is full of life, some of it good, and some of it not so good. In fact, some of it is bad, really bad. As a person that holds themselves to a higher standard, we should try to filter out as much as we can of the things that try to draw us away from our beliefs and convictions. If we continue to allow ourselves, our five senses, to be subjected to a barrage of stimuli that goes against our belief system, we will in time become desensitized. Our convictions will slowly erode and we will find what once bothered us no longer is as much of an issue today. Is this a good thing?
Our belief system is what it is…we are all somewhat of a product of our upbringing and those surroundings we grew up in. We were all imprinted, first by God, as a cherished innocent new born. Next our surroundings, as a child, start to overwrite our original imprint changing it to one of a “go along, to get along” mentality. Our surroundings, those things that imprint on us daily, blend us all together into groupings of like minded individuals. Some groups are very very large, in fact, in the hundreds of millions. As we “mature”, we become a collection of all that we have learned (whether we wanted to learn it or not) and all that we have come into contact with. Maybe positive, maybe negative; maybe good, maybe bad, but all contact has left some sort of an imprint on us, through one of our senses.
In any case, a life filter is very necessary at a young age. What we allow our children to come into contact with today, will imprint on them and make them part of who they will be tomorrow and in the near distant future. Likewise, what we as adults subject ourselves to daily also has an impact on us. Just look at how both men and woman treat each other today. Also, how men treat other men and how women treat other women. Compare that to several hundred years ago. And make no mistake; the past was not perfect either. But our surroundings today have imprinted on us in ways that make our lives much more challenging than they were at one time in the not so distant past.
So what are we to do? One suggestion would be for you to place more filters on your life and on the lives of you children and loved ones. Put some restrictions on what can be seen, heard, touched, tasted and smelled. Just because others do it does not make it okay to do or mean you will not be harmed in some way. Be a leader, not a follower!
If you are uncertain of your beliefs and maybe unsure that your upbringing or child surroundings where not all they should have been. I would suggest you take a Bible and read…there is no other instruction on earth that will re-imprint in your heart, mind, body and soul what is right and wrong in your life. Further, since the Bible is a very large book and our lack of filters in our life may cause us to seek a fast path to success… I would suggest you start with the book of Proverbs (Old Testament), and then move to 1st & 2nd Corinthians (New Testament), then read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John (New Testament). After that, go back and start with Genesis (Old Testament) and really start from the beginning and read it all to the end.
Why should you read these first…because they will provide proper guidance for applying filters in your life right away, (Although the entire Bible is a must read).
Proverbs was written by King Solomon, said to be one of the wisest men who ever lived and tells us how we should focus and live our lives.
1st & 2nd Corinthians was written by Paul, who in spite of his surroundings and past life imprints, made a major change in his life (with the help of God) and also provides us guidance on how to live.
Matthew, Mark, Luke & John all tell the story of Jesus Christ and include many of Jesus’ actual teachings and lessons on what we should believe and how to live our life. Who better to listen to than the Son of God!
Genesis, where the greatest story ever told, all begins; written by Moses and who if you recall, received the 10 commandments by God, himself.
Control whom you become by filtering the impact your surroundings have on your senses. You may gain better control of the path you choose and it also may be far less complicated moving forward.
Gary J Kiecker
LifeLongU™