1 Peter 5:8-10 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the G-d of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
Be alert. Be aware of the things around you, what you are doing, what you are exposing yourself to. In order to ensure that we are healthy, happy, and prosperous, we must learn how to make good decisions and this process first begins with being aware of what surrounds us and how it affects us.
Many people are unaware of how easily influenced we humans truly are. Many other people are very aware and they take full advantage of this attribute. Advertising is one example that shows how easy it is to influence someone to buy a product or service. Millions of dollars are spent on commercials that last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. In such a short amount of time, a company has the power to deliver a message that can encourage someone to reach into their pockets and exchange their money for some good or service. When you really ponder this, you will find how unbelievably strong and weak humans are. This type of power can obviously be used for good or for evil.
Most everything in this world is neutral; it's how we chose to use something that makes it positive or negative. In the case of advertising, there are many companies that offer wonderful products or services that can make our lives more convenient, providing value. In other cases, some products are poorly made; the advertising makes promises that cannot truly be fulfilled by the product they are selling. These companies are looking to take advantage of people by taking their money, while offering nothing of true value in return. As you can see, we all profit more when companies are run by people who are honest and looking to sincerely help people with a product or service that is of high quality that can truly help people.
It is in our self interest to be an example of what we expect from others. If you are aware of the importance of advertising being done by honest people, then you need to be an honest person yourself. Do not deal in lies.
It is only when we make ourselves aware that we can discover the many things that will help us become better individuals. Individuals make up the whole, so the more individuals we have that are making positive decisions, the more positive we are as a whole -- a culture or government. This all starts with individuals becoming more aware.
We must also understand that because we are so easily influenced we must make efforts to surround ourselves with stimuli that is positive in nature. If we spend our time idle, watching tv or movies that involve immoral acts, reading/watching pornography, and/or basically doing anything that is unproductive, we are ultimately being influenced in a negative way. If we spend our time with people who are negative and always complaining, eventually we will become negative. We may end up complaining or gossiping about them, or we may end up feeding into their world view and become jaded with them. In either of these cases, it is us who ultimately suffers. When we suffer as individuals, we in turn hurt the whole.
Pay attention. Pay attention to what is around you. Basic survival skills require us to be aware of what is around us at all times. Move with purpose and focus. When we venture off and go camping for instance, we are told to be prepared, take time to find a safe spot to set up our tent, know what foods are edible and what plants are poisonous, understand the area and what dangers exist, and a host of other things that will allow us to survive. Taking these actions not only protect us but they allow us to enjoy our time as well.
Focus on what is good in life but be aware of what is negative/evil as well. When we take the time to make ourselves alert, we can improve ourselves in many ways. One major problem of exposure to negative stimuli is that we can become bitter people which can make us unforgiving of others. When we focus on the negative, it seems that all we ever find in others are negative things. We assume others are out to take advantage of us. We tend to think irrational things about others because we jump to the conclusion that everyone is out to hurt us or others. In turn, we feed into this and when we make our own mistakes we easily justify them by saying things like, "Well, everyone else does the same; I'm just getting what's mine." By comparing ourselves to others, we turn to selfish thoughts that ultimately hurt ourselves. Even though we do this to ourselves, we blame others for bad things that happen in our lives. After sometime worse things can happen to us and this can go as far as sinking into depression, which is the ultimate selfish state of mind.
When we are focused on good things and positive things, we tend to be more forgiving of others and ourselves. We can move past negative experiences by taking responsibility for poor actions and behaviors. It is easier for us to learn from things, rather than wallow in self-pity. We begin to see others as equals and recognize that they are struggling in life as well, that even though they have made some mistakes, they might still be trying to be good people. Awareness keeps us from toxic people, which in turn keeps us from feeding into their problems making them our own.
Be aware of what you ingest. Eating and drinking are essential but if we are taking in junk food and soda on a daily basis, we are hurting our bodies. When we treat our bodies bad, we not only increase the risk for illness and disease, we hurt those around us that love us. Nobody wants to see their loved ones suffer from illness. It is within our power to avoid hurting our loved ones when we take care of our bodies by eating healthy food and drinking healthy drinks. Obviously there is great self interest in feeling good, rather than feeling wore and tired from what we ingest. Ingesting drugs and alcohol are actually selfish actions. We make a trade for momentary pleasure for long term suffering of ourselves and for others that love us. Sure, we can make the argument that occasional use will not harm us or others and this can very well be true for some but, for many a few nights can easily turn into weeks, months, and even years. This chronic use is what brings us to danger's doorstep.
It is important for the whole to be moral and this can only be achieved if individuals are moral. All of this begins with being aware. As individuals, being aware allows us to be in control of our lives. When we are examples of honesty and when we treat ourselves the way we deserve to be treated, we can influence others around us to do the same. This will be a positive effect on the whole.
The power you have begins with awareness. Use it for good, for yourself, and for those you love.
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