Are you internalizing the wrong information?

Recently, I read somewhere, its in our nature to stay ignorant about things that don't personally benefit us. And even if we do know of them, we refuse to recognize its existence and relevance. 

Read that again, its a very powerful statement and it made me think about people's behavior as it relates to my decisions in life. 

When you do or say something; opinions and suggestions come your way. Even if you didn't ask for them. There is constant feed from people on the validity of your actions. 

If you aren't careful, its easy for you to identify with those statements as truths that relate to YOU. 

This is where the opening statement becomes important. 

When we give opinions to others, we look at information in relation to how it will benefit us. And if it doesn't, the tendency maybe to be indifferent, unsupportive, defensive or judgmental. 

Anyway you look at it, neither of the reactions are in relation to you, your skills, your worth or your capabilities.

Read this again and reflect. 

A lot of my coaching and writing deals with understanding perspectives and paradigms. When we get down to goals and desires, one of the more complex thing to figure out, is whose paradigm is being used to dictate those goals. The second thing we identify is which of the 'external' voices are we listening to and which ones are we eventually internalizing. 

This kind of work takes tremendous courage and I have had people tip toe around this topic when it gets difficult. 

How you use your potential, is affected by what you think you are worth.

Surround yourself with people who truly support you and learn which 'external' voices to internalize. 

Comment with your story, if you'd like to share.