My friend pulled out her phone.
Iphone.
I rolled my eyes.
“Why do you hate Apple?” she asked.
“Apple’s products are made to break after one year, and they are totally not user friendly.” I told her matter of factually.
As I was saying it, I thought – “whoa – my ex…ex…EX boyfriend used to say that”
“Oh wow, you really hate apple products eh?” my friend said.
Huh. Do I? Actually… I don’t think i do… I listen to Itunes regularly.
I was just told, once upon a time, this one opinion (I won’t say fact because I don’t even know if it’s true) and I held onto it while I dated this guy. He left, but the opinion did not.
It got really got me thinking.
Shit… How much of the crap that comes out of my mouth is really my opinion at all?!
It turns out… not a whole lot.
I know this isn’t a new idea, but I think one has to realize it for themselves to be truly awakened to see it in their reality.
The week after I came to this conclusion, I noticed that every time I thought of an opinion, I could associate it with someone in my life who gave it to me.
Apple is worse than Android = an old ex from my early 20s
American’s are idiots = my father
Men and women can’t be friends = a high school teacher
Religion is for idiots = a pompous ex
Fat women must never wear tight clothing = my mother
Men want women who are proportionate = a guy i dated in my teens
Fitting in is for idiots = my best friend
Never do anything for free = my brother
I could go on and on…
The crazy thing, I realized, was that I spit out all these opinions but I actually am not sure how I really feel about them. Re-reading the ones I wrote just now, I can tell you 100% that I don’t agree with any of them completely… so why do I act like I do?
I think many people experience this growing up: We feel that having an opinion will make us disliked, so we gravitate towards opinions that people give us, as if somehow that makes it better. It’s people we respect, people we look up to, people older than us who are “wiser” who know better. So we use their opinions in replacement of ours.
I hadn’t realized that most of the thoughts in my head are other peoples. Wait…And are their thoughts other peoples?
IS ANYONE HAVING AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT?!
That was a tad dramatic…
My point is, (and I am working on this too) before you give your opinion, agree to something or disagree for that matter…think about what you really think. Are you regurgitating someone else’s material?
Food for thought.
~Athena and Hermes~
