OWNING YOUR GREATEST POSSESSION: An Investment “Tip”

This stren deals with recognizing and valuing the greatest possession you can own, your “thinking.”

“Own”: “of or belonging to oneself or itself; to obtain possession” … American Heritage Dictionary of English Language, New College Edition

     Could you imagine owning “something” that gives you power to direct your life’s experience, to consistently “feel good” and “do good”?  Do you like having “others” write your life’s script, or would you prefer to be its director and producer?  This stren identifies the greatest possession you can own.  It describes its value and what you can do to own it!  You (we) are a mental interpretative being(s).  The manner you think largely directs the way you feel and the way you act.  By choosing to invest in a newer way of thinking (ANWOT), you may acquire ownership of your self.  To the degree you allow your opportunity to go by, you will remain a servant to other masters.  At issue is “who” or “what” owns your thinking?

     Your early years were marked by limited capacity for independent thinking.  What you are has been determined by your ancestors and parents.  Genes provide “shape” and program behaviors we label “instinct.”  A number of pre-set clocks are inherited such as sleep/wake cycles, that turn-on organ function such as puberty, menstruation, and the ability to reproduce, and also turn-off such functions.   Who you have become has also been determined by parents and nurturers.  They provide words, their meanings, and establish how you habitually use them.  Your native language, name, identity, “rules” of conduct, interpretation of the world, beliefs, your religion, and so on are “their orders” routinely appearing in your thoughts and thinking.   Nature and nurture; your genes, instinct, and the “rules” of your teachers; fate and circumstance are formidable masters of your life’s experience … do you agree?  These “others,” who first programmed and directed your thoughts, commonly persist as “masters” of your thinking.  Unless and until you develop your own manner of thinking to Become Our Own Person (BOOP), the mental power of your thoughts and thinking will remain servants of “master nature” and “master nurture.” 

     Becoming what you choose is the most valuable asset you can attain … invest in owning your thinking!  If you choose to acquire self-mastery, you are required to possess certain skills.  You must create and practice a newer manner of thinking.  This process has been called “becoming one’s own person.”  Ownership of your thinking is a skilled process that you may create and possess the remainder of your life.

     You were given life; in time, it will be taken away.  It is clear that “others” initially managed your life.  The muscle power of slaves was directed by their “masters,” until freed from bondage. Your early years were “owned” by master nature and master nurture.  What can you truly own?  Is there anything that is exclusively yours, that you possess, relatively safe from the whims of others?  I believe there is.  It is your ability to direct your thinking.  Even a slave can “own” his/her own thinking.  By taking possession of your thinking, you acquire the power to make a difference in your feelings and (at least) your mental actions.  You are likely not physically a “slave” and already have control of your muscles.  To what degree do you possess mental freedom? 

     Progress in BOOPing begins early if you have been fortunate to be so directed by your early masters.  Most persons are provided limited encouragement to think independent of their early programmers.  Some are even emphatically prohibited from taking a path other than that which their early masters prescribe for them.  Those so handicapped still are able to earn their freedom; it may begin later, and take more effort, self-initiation, and “rebellion.”  Rate yourself on a scale of 10 where 1 indicates your nurturers taught “dependence,” and 10 indicates your nurturers taught you to think “independent” of their “prescriptions.”   Again rate yourself on your current expertise in thought control.  To what degree do you have “ownership” of your thinking?  To what degree have you emancipated your mind from your early masters?  How free is your thinking to (re)direct who you are and what you become, now and for your lifetime?

     It is hard to even imagine another investment that is so useable, safe from others, dependable, lasting, and thereby, as valuable as is your personal freedom.  What other personal possession can be attained without unusual intelligence, money, or “connections,” that doesn’t even require good health, and absolutely no magic is involved!  While the benefits of ANWOT are many, consider these very important ones:    

What are the advantages of owning your thinking, of self-mastery, of BOOPing?  

1. As director and producer of your thinking, you will be free to create your life’s script including “feeling good,” “doing good,” and participating as a valuable member of your community.
2. You may acquire your self as your best friend and lifelong traveling companion.  As such, you may work for and enjoy the approval of “others,” by your choice rather than being a “love junkie,” dependent on the whims of “others” for your well-being.
3. As you create loving self-endorsement to fill your need for approval, your abundant production may be shared with others.  You will experience the joy of giving and becoming a valuable participant in the larger community of which you are a part.
4. By originating your own ideas and problem-solving, you will experience the “aha,” “eureka” self-rewarding mental and emotional orgasms that so endear us to freedom.
5. Your life’s experience will increasingly become less dependent on the weather, economics, and/or the control of those other who’s or what’s that currently push your react button.
6. You will enjoy your chronic enthusiasm for the many interests you choose to pursue during your lifetime.
7. You will have difficulty raising your children to enjoy freedom of thought and creativity and encouraging them to surpass your generation in knowledge and achievement when you yourself are slave to your fate and circumstance.¹    

     Please recognize that owning your thinking does not exclude the pursuit of material possessions.  When you substitute the ANWOT “both/and” means of processing information for the “either/or” means acquired as your “native” thinking, you will recognize that it is reasonable to enjoy physical wealth in addition to mental riches.  At issue is priority, how you value each.  Compare owning your private thinking with owning the material possessions of the physical world we all share in common.  An auto wears out and is relegated to the scrap heap.  An ornament is noticed brief periods; it may break and/or be taken from you.  What becomes of its value?  Once you take possession of your thinking, you will own this valuable asset the remainder of your life. 

What is required to BOOP? 

     You will need to create within yourself A Newer Way Of Thinking (ANWOT) to direct your growing powers of self-mastery.  You (we all) were born physically immature and mentally undeveloped.  Physical development slowly proceeded until your late teens.  In addition to physical development of your brain, BOOPing requires language and skill in manipulating words and ideas.  It requires access to information and ability to store data.  You likely have these preliminary resources (“prerequisites”) now. 

     Other ingredients include faith in yourself that you can make a difference, work, patience, some direction, and the willingness to do some risk-taking.  What you presently lack of these resources is abundantly available to you.  You will need to substitute personal responsibility words for the blaming words that you first learned and are now habitually used in your thinking.  Descriptive words, for example, “could,” are substituted for prescriptive words, “should.”  Analog inclusive words, for example, “both/and,” are substituted for “either/or” dichotomous words that distort reality and commonly lead to prejudiced thinking.  Personal responsibility words, such as “I choose,” are substituted for dependency words such as “he, she, they, it makes me.”  Review the Roadmap stren introducing you to the process for freeing your thinking to “feel good” and “do good.”  The Guide’s various strens provide readily understood explanations of the ingredients, language skills, and wisdom to put ANWOT into practice.      

How long will it take?  The process of becoming one’s own person is a skill that may be compared to playing a musical instrument.  You can enjoy learning and have some benefits virtually immediately.  Respectable skills require months to a few years depending on the energy you invest.  Perfection is an unreasonable goal for it is never reached; growth is a lifetime process. 

When is it to late too BOOP?   As long as one has the ability to reason, it is not too late to free your self from your early masters.

What better investment than to invest in your self?  Why not direct what energy you can afford into developing an ANWOT “operating system” that frees your thinking to become your own person?  You will be far more satisfied, and far less likely to be disappointed, with the outcome of this investment, one that you create and directly control!