Doing Dishes

Clearing our minds of negative thoughts is a lot like doing the dishes after a big gathering.

The gathering is over, the dirty dishes are piled up on the counter and in the sink. You look at it and think that it is just too much to tackle, but start anyway.

You pick a starting point, start scrapping the garbage off, rinsing, stacking, sorting and throwing away the trash that is always mixed in with the dishes. Then you either load the dishwasher or start washing by hand in hot soapy water, probably a little of both. When the dishes are clean and dry you start putting them away, determining where they came from and putting them back in their place. Sometimes you come up with a damage dish and you decide if it should be kept or disposed off. Maybe you have some attachment to the plate – it was part of a set given to you by your grandmother – you weigh the damage to the dish – how easily it could break and hurt someone? is it still usable? can I let go of the sentimental attachment?

Of course, you could just walk away and hope they disappear but the longer they sit the harder they are to clean and the smellier they get.

I have heard of some people just throwing away everything rather than doing the dishes that brings up the old saying of “Throwing the baby out with the bath water”. Personally having to buy all new stuff would be way more stressful than doing the dishes.

Or you can just dig in and just get it done.

With your negative thoughts and beliefs you have the same kind of choices as you do with the dishes. Many times if we have thoughts or beliefs that are negative, are being challenged or that cause us discomfort, we just turn away from them and hope it goes away. However the discomfort, the unsettled feeling, the questions around the belief is telling us we need to look at it! If we don’t the feelings stay and may get stronger causing us more unhappiness. We need to question – Where did this belief come from? What makes me believe that? Why is that particular thought or feeling popping up in this situation? We need to figure out what is bothering us and make a decision about whether we truly believe something or if it is just something we picked up along the way and never questioned.

We learn from history what to repeat and not to repeat. Science, technology, general knowledge about the world around us expands and shows us new facts that change the old paradigm.

Sometimes, you can decide to just throw away all your old thoughts about a subject after evaluating it because you realize everything you thought you knew was based on evidence since proven to be untrue.

Here are a couple of examples about false thoughts and beliefs that are known to most people.

The world is flat. When people believed this the evidence they had available to them proved it was flat. That evidence was sight, they looked off into the horizon and everything just dropped off. As sailing and travel technology developed people started questioning that “fact”. Most accepted the truth that the world is round after Columbus found the new world and Magellan sailed around it. Now of course we have seen the globe from outer space. Anyone still thinking the world is flat is living in unreality.

Evolution vs Creation In 1925, two great lawyers argued the case for and against a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution. (The 1960 film Inherit the Wind is based on that case). At the time Darwin’s theory of evolution was considered heresy and it was illegal to teach it in public schools, it was classic Christian religion vs. science. Since that time Darwin’s “theory” has pretty much been taught as fact (even though many still disputed it) in U.S. schools, “survival of the fittest”, “natural selection” became points used to support many policies adopted in the U.S. and other Western countries. However in the last 20 years new technology used in scientific studies, show that when it comes to humans evolution Darwin’s theory at the very least is not the whole story. https://www.greggbraden.com/evolution-answer-one-big-question/#. Science at the moment seems to be finding evidence to support both theories or a combination of them. So this example is not cut and dried like the world being round, however, we are learning more and more by keeping an open mind.

Personal or Societal ALL negative beliefs need to be examined

Personally I have spent the last several years examining every negative thought I can when I am aware it is making me uncomfortable. I always disliked or even hated basketball, as far back as I could remember. I didn’t think much about it, I just avoided being around basketball. Earlier this year I was in a position where I couldn’t avoid it. Part of my job was supervising while the clients played basketball. I was very uncomfortable and decided to evaluate why I felt that way about basketball. I couldn’t come up with a ready logical explanation, so I just allowed the question to rest in my mind and kept it open for ideas. One day while watching the clients I started remembering my older brother who died at the age of 17, one week before my 13th birthday (big trauma). I realized as I sat there thinking about him and watching boys playing that, in my 12 yr old mind, I had associated basketball to the death of my brother. My brother did not die in a basketball related incident, however, during that time of grief and trauma as I listened to what the adults were saying around me, I heard my dad telling someone that maybe if the the basketball coach had let my brother back on the team he would have settled down and not died. I was then able to release the link in my brain between my brothers death and basketball and by doing so I was able to enjoy gym/basketball time with the clients.

I have been able to do that with many false beliefs by identifying first that I was uncomfortable, angry or sad in specific circumstances. Looking at what thought or belief was causing the emotional reaction and then honestly evaluating it. I have found that many were from things said by adults when I was a child that I either formulated a faulty belief around because I did not have all the facts. Others have come from beliefs my family had based on what they knew at the time.

NOW IS THE TIME!

So pick a starting point, start scrapping the garbage off, rinsing, stacking, sorting and throwing away the trash that is cluttering your mind. Allow yourself to be open to new ideas as you go into the new year. Just like a clean uncluttered kitchen a clean uncluttered mind makes you feel better.