It is so common in our society to go straight to the behavior when we need change to occur. We've experienced as children when our behavior wasn't appreciated, that was what needed changing. We see it in addiction rehab centers where time and effort is spent trying to change the behavior in hopes for a different outcome. We see it in our criminal justice system as individuals serve time for their behavior. And, we see it in ourselves when for example a habit is formed that we want to change, we use willpower to change our behavior.
There's a reason this sometimes works and it sometimes doesn't. There is a different direction we can look in and that is -- thought leads to behavior. We need to go upstream and look at the nature of thought, in order for behavior to change.
The nature of thought is that it creates our moment to moment experience of life. We are each in separate realities doing what looks right to us based on our thinking. This is a creative power we each have, to create realities and through consciousness, we see and experience what was created through the power of thought. When we turn away from attempting to control our thoughts and grasp the fact that we think, life becomes more fluid and we tap into a deeper compassion for ourselves. We also tap into a deeper compassion for others because they too are seeing life through their lens of thought.
Change occurs through insight. Seeing something new. A new thought that comes from within. Not the same thoughts circling around from the intellect that we know all too well. A fresh new "aha" thought. And when we see something new, it's hard to un-see it and that starts the path of change. Bringing awareness to what wants to change and noticing the thinking pattern creating that behavior. That way of being shifts instantly or it's a slow falling away. So, attempting to change behavior when we first, have not seen something new occur to us about what it is we want to change, seems futile.
This is often why circumstances haven't changed, but the person experiencing those circumstances has. And as we know, we can't change other people. But, having shared what I just did, perhaps we get curious as to why someone does what they do -- understand their world and how they see it. Because neither way is right, wrong, good or bad -- we are each in our own reality, doing the best we can in this dance of Life.