The myth makers got better

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Homo Sapiens were not originally the only human species, but they became the only humans because of one thing, they had a cognitive revolution that enabled them to imagine things that were not real.

Neanderthals, for example, could only comprehend real objects like a tree, a flower, animals etc. Whereas their more successful counterparts and opponents, the Homo Sapiens, could start to create myths.

Initially, probably only simple myths, but these myths enabled them to create a united group of maybe a 1,000 strong to hunt or attack other humans, but the Neanderthals could only get their very closest group of maybe 30-40 to fight or hunt.

Fast forward 50,000 years or so and today’s mythmakers have got very adept at creating very sophisticated and controlling myths.

For example, a limited company is a myth, it is not a real thing, a law is a myth, a regulation or rules of a club and so on.

Stop and think how many myths or rules we have to abide by or know about as a human. Many are of course for our collective good and safety, such as rules about driving, without them, there would be carnage.

But myths are subjective and based on opinions or yet more myths.

The worry is when the people being controlled by these myths become unaware of the myths or do not even question whether they are necessary or the motive behind them.

Question the myths that you are controlled by, as the myth-makers of the 21st century are scarily good at creating them.

Talk to yourself differently

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We all have this inner voice and it talks to us.

It isn’t another person in our head, it is a voice we control.

If you were asked to inspire someone else to do something great, how would you talk to them?

When was the last time the voice inside your head said ‘well done, you did a great job of that’ or ‘I’m really proud of you’ or ‘you are so good at that, wow!’ or anything similar?

Do you congratulate yourself every day for the great things you do?

Equally, we can choose to talk differently to ourselves about others and choose a generous position versus a judgemental one. After all, everyone is trying to do their best.

The voice in our head can talk differently, we just need to teach it to do so.

It’s just a habit and a choice.