I’m always advising people to do reflection and make lists and inventories. Review, review, review.

Do you even know what your core beliefs are? Those are those things that you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt. But do you know not only what they are but where they came from?

These are the things you were taught as you were growing up. When you hear the same thing day after day, you begin to believe it….especially if you never questioned it.

A belief is just a thought you keep thinking. It’s not as if God came to you and told you to believe that people who don’t look like you aren’t good people. No, it wasn’t from God but so many of us act like what we believe was decreed by the almighty. And it really was just your parents, your teachers, your spiritual leaders, peers, media etc.

Do you want to continue to just blindly believe something you heard repeatedly in school? Especially if you hated school?

The way our beliefs develop is surreptitious and can he dangerous. I think we need them as we’re growing so that we have some guidelines. But where all these influencers (parents, teachers, spiritual leaders) go wrong is that they don’t teach children to question and review their beliefs.

You have to be aware of what’s going on around you and inside you and be willing to examine these things in detail. Then be willing to change your thinking and your beliefs.

If you’re upset or frustrated or angry or any emotion, step away and ask yourself where that feeling came from. Even if you can’t answer the question, just the fact that you asked it will be the start of a new awareness habit.

Start today. How did you react to what you read here? Where did that come from?

How willing are you to change? How do you respond to change? Does it create anxiety or interest in you? Do you seek out change or do you shy away from it?

I have gotten much better at accepting change but I’m still not actively seeking it. That will take some time.

What helped me become more accepting of change was when I realized that in a short while, it won’t even seem as if a change has occurred. The “new way” has already become the “old way”.

I think the other thing that has helped is that rarely, when given enough time, has a change actually been as bad as I thought it was going to be. And if i am honest, most of the time the change has been beneficial.

I think that’s frequently we don’t want change because it wasn’t our idea. And if we accept the change and embrace it, that young envious part that we all have decides it’s going to rebel and pout because someone else had the idea, took action and made it happen. That’s something to look at.

Take some time to examine your approach, thoughts and feelings about change.

I always try to explain how the more you give, the more you get back. And being generous doesn’t have to “cost you” money. You can be generous with your time, with your words, with your smiles, with touch. There are so many ways to be generous.

You see this in natural disasters. People of all persuasions come together to help each other. That is Generosity and once the trend has started, there really is a flow. Everyone gets on the bandwagon. Everyone is helping everyone else.

Just think how much fun it would be to start a trend like this maybe just in your household or maybe at work or perhaps on a much bigger level.

Humans mirror actions of other humans. That’s why parents and teachers need to model the behavior and qualities desired in the young people they have in their charge.

Make it part of your daily routine to be generous in some way and then reflect on it each night. As you’re getting ready to fall asleep think about it and how it made you and the other person feel. What a beautiful thought as you drift off to sleep.