Friday, December 6, 2013

Personality changes

Personality changes may be the desired undertaking, but along with examining our beliefs and values, our behaviours, our relationships, and our characteristics come some unexpected results. We need to accept that our thoughts, beliefs, values, behaviours, feelings, emotions, philosophy and the like are all tied together. Change one, and other things change. Now if we are trying to induce a personality change sufficient to bring about an end to the overeating, is there a down side.

Well maybe. When we start to pull that string, we do not know what will unravel. Our environment has been built up around us and our likes and dislikes, our ability and interests. These may change, and as a result our environment may also change or need to change. Environment here is used to describe things beyond out physical environment, it also must include our involvement with people, organisations, and identities. Yes, even our own identity can change.

In our youth we had a self concept or a personal identity. We modified it through education and we became young workers. Through jobs, careers, or callings we found ideally a mature identity. Now some of us need to rework this into a senior identity, along with additional recovery to keep the overeating in its's place. I am not fully recovered, few seldom are, but I have come a long way toward a much better life.

Coming to know what I beleive and know what I do not beleive has freed me from a lot of ideas that were just wrong. Knowing the boundary between myself and the world that I have no control over has freed me to study what I have control over, and to not care about what I have no control over. Now what I do as a result of this new found freedom in another issue.

Be well, breath, smile, and enjoy what life has to offer. Dao.      

Link christian vs stoics; stoics 1, christians 0.http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/2013/12/05/features-stoicism-and-christianity-by-jules-evans/