The traditional reframe during this season is "Happy New Year".
Your worldview and how you think about life will have a major impact on the reality of your happiness for 2022 and beyond.
To get started correctly with the right thinking and your subsequent "action plan" we must deal with THE EIGHT LIES that permeate our culture today. These popular and persistent lies have and will continue to derail our personal and societal happiness and cause ongoing confusion and frustration as we move through another 12 months.
The eight lies...
#1 - Life is random:
If a person believes that we are here by chance and that there is no design or purpose for our existence, how can a person truly set themself up for a position of success? If we are born by evolutionary chance, sustained by random circumstances, and die into oblivion, then what is the motivation to succeed, prosper and do good for the common good?
# 2 - Truth is relative:
The world is crumbling (in part) because so many have adopted the idea that "what is true for you is your truth, but not my truth". Absolute truth is no longer permitted in the public square. It's viewed as narrow-minded or bigoted. Today truth ebbs and flows to whatever we want at the time. If everyone is allowed to make up their own rules about morality, civic or corporate laws, how can anything be put in order for mutual human flourishing? How can one succeed with a chaotic worldview?
# 3 - Human beings are basically good.
The prevailing opinion in many circles today is that people who do bad things are just a product of unfortunate circumstances i.e. "something happened to them to make them behave that way, but people are basically good." Really? Do you have to teach a child to lie? Have you ever taken something from school or work that wasn't yours? Did you ever pad your income tax statements or expense report? There is present an inherent evil in all of us. Organizations spend millions of dollars every year developing, communicating "value statements" or conducting value seminars. Why would we do that if we're all basically good?
# 4 - The highest virtue is tolerance.
Since there is no one in charge, there are no absolute truths and people are basically good, then the best thing you can do is just leave everyone alone and let them do what they want to do. Don't be judgemental and we will experience unity in the world. How can a society or individual prosper in a world that operates in a free-for-all system where everyone does what they want to do, and the rest of us are expected to be "tolerant" of others' behaviors and attitudes.
#5 Life really consists of what you possess, acquire, or own.
Malcolm Forbes is created for saying “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
For some, money and material things equate to a Happy New Year. For others, it's the possession of education, accomplishments, titles, position, achievements, recognition, popularity, or fame. That's what you have to chase. Once you get it, you'll be happy. However, millions of biographies have detailed the necessity to dispute this lie.
#6 The goal in life is personal satisfaction
People want to be feel good about themselves. Sex, drugs, money, and rock-n-roll were the anthems of the '60s. And sadly, the same today. Even those who do good in charitable giving admit that they do it because it makes them feel good about themselves. Is it good to be charitable? Of course! But what is the true motive? Ultimately people live and seek what they think will help them sleep better at night. That chase sadly creates a big hole in the heart that can never be filled. The country singer Toby Keith wrote a song with the chorus that repeatedly declares...
" I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I,
wanna talk about #1 oh my me my.
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see"
Aka..It' all about me..and feeling good about me.
#7 You can become anything you want.
This idea of you can reach inside yourself, that if you work hard enough you can be anything you want is a cruel lie given to us by television preachers, the collective thoughts from philosophies like Hinduism, get rich authors and motivation speakers. We all have limitations, genetically, intellectually, culturally etc. Can we better? Can we be the best we can be? Should we strive for improvement! Yes, but we can't become something we are incapable of becoming. We will be happiest when we harness want we are good at, what we have the aptitude for, what we enjoy doing, and embrace opportunities to show case those gifts and talents we're given.
# 8 Death is a pleasant transition
Don't worry about death. If your worldview tells you, you came from nothing and exist by chance then death is just following the light at the end of the tunnel of nothingness. As one person told me "We become stardust". You'll hear people at uncle Fred's funeral, (who was a wife-beater, crook at work, a drunk, foul-mouthed, and unkind to others) say, "he's in a better place now". Really? Your aunt Mable will not be pouring another glass of her favorite wine and making biscuits. She may or may not be in a better place. That will be determined by the choice she made while she was alive.
I know many will think this is not the most uplifting article to write as we close in on a new year, but I truly wish you a Happy New Year. We still can recapture our western culture. This is not a republican or democratic thing. It's truth, principles, and common sense that once defined us in western civilization. As leaders in our families, our communities, and companies we must resist the cultural pressures to conform ..Any dead fish can swim downstream.
* Life is not random. As I've told many leaders, students, during my professional life, 'You were made for a purpose. Your job is to seek and find what that purpose is."
* There are absolute truths. They may be uncomfortable and inconvenient at times, but they are essential for human flourishing.
* Humans are not born good. There built in all of us a desire to rebel at some level.
* The acceptance of the idea of unbridled tolerance creates chaos.
* Happyness and life are not about what you can get, own or acquire for yourself.
* The drive for personal satisfaction will leave you empty and unattainable.
* You can not be anything you want. You can only be what God has gifted you with and created you for.
* Sadly, for many, death will not be a pleasant transition. For others, death will be the best part of their living.
Share this article with others as we all seek to.......
Press on in a New Year
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