The world that we live in constantly dictates norms of what is deemed aspirational and acceptable. Our families and friends are all a part of the larger society that reinforces certain belief systems in our lives. In one of his lectures, Bob Proctor mentioned that “Culture is founded on: habits, work practices, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations— also known as Paradigms.”
These beliefs evolve as paradigms through which we create a philosophical, psychological, and theoretical framework for the rest of our lives. For instance, our professional/corporate culture dictates our success through the achievement of targets on a month-on-month basis, and our society consistently espouses the idea that one can only dictate success based on monetary gains, at the cost of everything in life. By embracing such ideas, we dedicate ourselves to the capitalistic notion of success and begin to lose ourselves in that cumbersome process. The delicate balance of our ProPer cart-wheel shifts causing turbulence in our inner world. As we pour our heart and soul into fulfilling various roles in the drama of our lives, that is glorified by the rest of the world, we often lose perspective and experience a void in our lives.
As individuals, we are all products of our own cultures and environment. We start developing our paradigms as a child driven by our families and friends. As we grow, we strengthen a few of are already established paradigms and add new ones as we set foot in our professional world, oblivious of the fact that what works for the majority, might not necessarily work for us and vice versa. Therefore, it is important to re-evaluate the paradigms, through introspection (I will be talking on this subject in my future blogs) that build the very foundation of our future. One of the most renowned philosophers Confucius once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” True to every sense of the word, change isn’t something that happens overnight. You need to truthfully introspect areas in your life that have hampered your growth, identify the real enemy, and weed out the negativity in your subconscious mind. Only then, you will be able to embrace a clear vision and provoke profound changes in your life. Thus, implementing powerful paradigm shifts will do wonders for your personal well-being and redefine the ways in which you perceive life, with new rules, new games, and thereby new results.
You know your paradigms are a multitude of habits, which are extremely difficult to change and require willpower, a considerable amount of focus and discipline before they are changed. The question is which one and how do we change?
Changing paradigms opens a myriad of new possibilities for your personal as well as professional growth, presenting you with opportunities like never before. It helps you look beyond the conventional ways of thinking and embrace a more holistic style of living. For instance, we often embrace a ‘know it all mindset’ in ProPer life that stagnates our growth and impedes further learning. We come under the enormous influence of our style, culture, and conscious faculties that we shut ourselves from real learning experiences, we miss out on opportunities and continue to live in our own bubble of limited knowledge driven by our dominant habits – Paradigms. However, if we decide to accept our shortcomings and ignorance, we will surely unfold new possibilities in our lives. But, on the other hand, if we continue to limit ourselves to our former beliefs and biases, there will be limited scope for improvement in our lives. Having said that, are we ready to exert our will towards identification and changing our Paradigms?