Are People Confusing Beliefs with Truth

Time and time again, this topic gets on my nerves.  We as a society (maybe as a world) confuse facts with opinion.  We think that just because it is our opinion or belief, that it is fact.  This could not be further from the truth and that is the truth in how I see it (just so we are clear).

On this blog, I try my hardest to write from my experiences.   The  things that I have seen or witnessed or experienced firsthand.  However, I try not to stop there.  It isn't just the one time feeling of an experience, but the repeated moments when I see something transform and change before my eyes.

We had to believe without question...

I grew up in a home where we had to believe what my dad and mom told us to believe.  We had to believe without question what the church and minister told us to believe.  We had to believe and accept as fact, whatever it was that the teachers taught us to believe.

There was no questioning it.  There was no moment of not believing it.  You either accepted what was told to you as THE TRUTH or you were considered to be a bad person.  You were a lost person that needed to find your way.  You were a deviant that would be severely punished.

Unfortunately, what I've now found through some very difficult experiences in my life is that most of what I was taught, really doesn't hold one ounce of water.  As bad as my programmed and brainwashed mind wants to believe that what I was taught was true, I know deep in my heart that it is not.

You see, we often get taught opinions and beliefs as if they are THE TRUTH.  Unfortunately, when we are not allowed to question those things, that is not truth.  It is called control or brainwashing or being very narrow minded.  I'm sorry if I am ruffling feathers here, but again, I am sharing with you what I have learned from my experiences in life.

My truth may not be your truth...

My truth may not be your truth.  My beliefs may not be your beliefs.  My opinions may not be your opinions.  After all, we are all unique and different and we have brains that process different input in different ways.  How could we all hold on to the same beliefs, opinions and truth as if there was only ONE way of looking at things.

I do realize that in our society, it is easier to form societal group units if we all adhere to one way of looking at things or one set of beliefs disguised as truth.  However, this is not the sign of a healthy civilization that is growing in awareness and consciousness.  In my view, this is the mark of a controlled people to get in step behind whoever they look to as their leaders.

There is a much different world out there then what we were taught as children or that we adhere to as adults.  I believe more and more people are beginning to see this and to me, it gives me hope.

I try to write from my experience...

I may fail from time to time on this blog, but I try hard to write from my experience, not what I believe to be TRUTH.  Experience always conquers opinion and beliefs because it is something you can see and touch and usually repeat.  Belief and opinion changes from person to person and throughout the ages.

The most important part of this blog post that I hope you take away is to be careful of confusing facts or the truth with beliefs or opinions.  Realize that maybe your way of viewing things is not the way everyone else sees that and be okay with this.  Realize that what you know today may not add up tomorrow in what you see and understand.

If we all are aware of how we confuse facts with opinions, we'll advance this world in ways that are hard to imagine.

Do you want to read more on the subject, check out truth that we believe in.

Question Of The Day

What ways do you spot whether something is fact or beliefs? 

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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You Don't Understand

I've seen this happen so much lately, it has made my head spin round and round like a child's toy top.  People say far too much, "you don't understand" and this really hurts me to no end.  The pain that statement inflicts is just as bad as if they pulled a gun and took a shot.

Years ago, I was at an event and this person that was in a wheel chair was trying to be strong.  I was trying to help them a little and they really got angry at me.  They stated strongly to me and in no uncertain terms that I just didn't understand what they were going through because I was not in a wheel chair.  Their eyes got real wide when I looked at them and said, "oh, but it wasn't but a few years ago that I was!"

It leaves me scratching my head...

I've had moments online lately that I have truly tried to be encouraging and then heard the words, "you don't understand".  It always leaves me scratching my head because if the person only knew just how much I truly did understand, they probably would blush with embarrassment.  I always think, but if I have missed something, why not try to help me understand, rather than just dismiss me as being "stupid".

I know we all have our difficulties and our struggles.  I know some of us face some very tough and insurmountable odds in getting through our days.  I get that.  I've been through those moments and if you go back through this blog, you will read many of them.  From depression, anxiety, suicide, paralysis, Conversion Disorder, full body rashes, body pain like no other and just trying to deal with the many circumstances of life - yes, I think I have a pretty good idea of what others go through.

Maybe I don't fully understand...

Maybe my experiences don't match up to yours 100%.  Maybe I don't fully understand what your day is like or what that particular part of your story means.  Maybe I see things through my life's experiences and not necessarily your filters, but it does not mean I don't understand.

I feel for others more than most will ever know.  I hurt when I see others hurt.  I want to scream when I see injustice.  I want to rid this world of the pain and I often feel like I'm not enough to help.  To say, "you don't understand" to me is like a big slap in the face.

What if instead of saying "you don't understand", that maybe you help someone understand.  Share more of your story.  Write about what you are going through.  After all, these are ways to help heal and make sense out of what is happening when it seems like nothing makes sense.

I write on my blog and in my tweets the things that I know have helped me.  I write to help give a brighter outlook on things or to give hope that things can change and get better.  I write to help give a different perspective or conscious awareness that may is hard to see.  At no time is my writing about inflicting hurt upon another.

Challenged to look further....

The things that helped me the most in addition to understanding and compassion were the moments when I was challenged to look further, to be more than that moment, and to see other ways I could view what was taking place.  It was in challenging those uncomfortable moments that I began to find my way forward.  I try to do the same with everyone I meet.

I wrote this blog post some time ago about Holding The Space For Someone and I think it matches up to the point I'm trying to make here.

Question Of The Day

What other ways can people help us heal and progress in life or understand what we are going through?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Uncomfortable Places

They are numerous in life.  I've gone through many in my own life.  Uncomfortable places can be challenging, frightening, scary, disaster zones, horror, and nightmares.  At the same time, they can be life changing events.

All too often and especially when we are going through moments that seem beyond our capability to endure, we look for things we recognize.  We look for the familiar.  We want things that help us feel like we have stability and life isn't going to evaporate before our eyes.  It is human to be this way and normal, in my view.

When I was paralyzed and was watching my body slowly slip away from me, there was nothing I could count on.  When you lose complete control of your body and any connection to it, you've lost one of the most important parts of feeling connected and in control.  It is a frightening feeling.

Sometimes it was too overwhelming...

Through that experience and many others, I have learned that I had to walk into those uncomfortable places of life.  Now, it didn't mean I did it all at once.  Sometimes I took baby steps and I inched into it.  Sometimes it meant dipping my toe in the water and pulling back out of it.  Sometimes it meant it was just too overwhelming at that moment.

However, in order to heal and become more than we are in this current moment, at some point you have to face those uncomfortable places.  Some people will push through.  Some will retreat.  Some will say, never again while others don't stop until they've found the other side.

The more power I reclaim...

I've learned through some healing work I have been through that the more I go in and learn how to deal with the uncomfortable places, the more power I reclaim for my life.  The more I feel like I have discovered who I am to a greater degree.  The more I feel like I have risen to a different view point of what I can now see, rather than what I thought I could see.

Yes, there were fears.  Yes, it was difficult.  Just for me learning how to sit up in bed and walk again, imagine if I would have said, "I'm not going into that uncomfortable place."  It was through the struggle that I learned how to reclaim my body and walk again.  It was through the struggle that I learned I was strong enough to face the things that later would show up on my path.

A never-ending path of learning...

Life is a never-ending path of learning.  Life presents us with choices and possibilities and moments where we become more than we are.  Life is about walking through those uncomfortable places to find so much more than we know exists in this moment.  I know it isn't easy, but neither is stopping at the water's edge of uncomfortable places.

I am including a blog post from 2012 for further reading, Allow The Process To Unfold.

Question Of The Day

What are some of your uncomfortable places that you've been in and how did you find your way out or are you still looking for the way out?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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