7 Reasons you distract yourself

Human beings distract themselves from what matters. They do so consciously and unconsciously, every single moment. 

You may ask yourself when you do this and why.  You may not even recognize you do this.  You may observe other people do this and wonder if you do, but choose to remain selectively ignorant.  Every level of awareness silently teaches you things. You are preparing to explore aspects of yourself in more detail.  Consider these 7 reasons why you distract yourself;

1) You lie to yourself.  Each person develops the idea that they lack something intrinsic to their lives.  From the moment this illusion is conceived, the mind begins to believe it.  Every thought, feeling and perception adjusts to rationalize and justify what has to be done to reverse the imagined lack.

2) You judge yourself. Each person goes through phases of defining mistakes in their lives. From the instant a mistake is detected, the inner judge is triggered or awakened to criticize, reprimand, and call the shots.  To have inner conviction does not relieve a person from the consequences of their actions.

3) You listen to media. Each person tends to be influenced in some way by social messages distributed through media.  This includes print, radio, internet and television broadcasts.  Where the motive or priority of media producers is financial profit, this does not mean they demonstrate any sense of social responsibility. When people do not take responsibility for their emotions or reasons they support media, then they do not take responsibility for raising self-awareness and reducing negative consequences of each situation they come to face.

4) You favor efficiency. Each person is mesmerized by the notion of productivity. This raises values about how to work faster, better, cheaper. These assertions translate into efficiency. And yet, people will rarely go steps further to ask questions such as, "efficient for whom?" and "at whose or what expense?"People do not always agree that everything is equal and nothing is better or worse. It is all in your perception.

5) You harbour opinions. Each person nurtures conscious beliefs about the truth. This flows into views on life and death, what is possible, provable, likely or inconceivable.  Beliefs evolve to become viewed as essential to mental stability and confirm personal reality.  In essence, people come to construct a sense of existence around experiences that are imagined or unfounded.  Opinions hide prejudice and misunderstanding.

6) You stray from basic qualities. Each person is basically energy grounded in love, compassion and kindness. Where the common thread is limitless compassion, respect for others would be automatic in thought, word and deed. 

7) You do not rely on yourself. Many people seek outside themselves for answers to everything.  They do not nurture faith inside and resist messages from their intuition.  Its always possible to be more open-minded, less sceptical and more confident.  This relates back to awareness and steps you can take to become more attuned to energy and your true self.

Comments

[Terie]

This post is so true. I can agree in one way or another with everyone of these points you made. Thank you for sharing.

[rummuser]

People need distraction because they are uncomfortable with themselves. They are either lonely or bored. In either case, they take recourse to one of the methods that you have listed as a tool to overcome the discomfortl I believe that the root cause however is just the discomfort with themselves, a sense of lacking something outside oneself as it were.

[Liara Covert]

Terie, great to receive your feedback! People are selectively aware of their thoughts and implications. There is always room to expand perception and review events.

[Liara Covert]

rummuser, your perspective is very much appreciated. As you say, discomfort is evoked for personal reasons. You may also choose to view this post about boredom:
http://blog.dreambuilders.com.au/journal/2008/11/21/what-does-boredom-really-mean.html?SSScrollPosition=292

[Melinda]

I agree with the commenter who said that people distract themselves because they are not comfortable with who we are. Of course, I used drugs as the ultimate distraction--but how true it is that even after I stopped using drugs, I would do other things to distract myself--such as buy meaningless things I didn't need--because those things masked the pain I felt -- that I didn't want to confront/deal with. Only after I did that was I serene enough to spend time alone with myself and truly enjoy the simplicity of just being.

Thank you as always Liara--I need to visit your site much more often--I always feel uplifted after I come here.

Take care,

Melinda

[Liara Covert]

Melinda, each person has the power to work toward detaching from emotional baggage and identifications that create a flase sense of self. At the same time, as you reflect on life experiences, you realize each one is valuable for the lessons you have learned. To give up material possessions, perceived addictions and attachments is all helpful, but does not necessarily mean you dissolve ego. This underlies each of your choices and explains why people seek to identify with something. You can own very few possessions and still have an inflated ego. To recognize how you think helps you zero in on the why. This is a process of dissolving what you do not need.

[Melinda]

I agree with you. The one thing that has really helped me give up ego is giving back to people. When I help other people, I lose that ego part of myself that can be very destructive. Gratitude and working toward a better world keeps me humble--although I still have work to do--I am a work in progress! :)

But sometimes you do have to pause while climbing that huge mountain and not think just how far you have left to go--but how very far you have come.

I can't tell you how much I needed to read your posts today. I feel so much better--thank you. You are a great reminder of what is really important.