But feeding into our default setting even deeper is detrimental to our well being.
“We live in a culture where we prioritize self service.
What can we do to manipulate environments to best serve our own interests?
And even when we do this & do it well, we are still dissatisfied.
Why?
Because selfishness is poison regardless of the angle you view it from.”
-Ray Zingler on X
I think the most important tool I’ve added to my toolbox in the last decade is self-awareness.
I think a lot of people “say” they are self-aware but aren’t really self-aware. I know that was me for a lot of years.
And the reason I believe this is because self-awareness takes work. It takes conscious effort. It takes deep introspection and asks that you acknowledge not only your strengths, but most importantly your weaknesses and shortcomings.
Self-awareness will wage war on your pride & ego.
Self-awareness asks you to think deeply about yourself and acknowledge that you may not always be right (I’ve found that I’m often not right) and then it asks you to upgrade your thinking so that you can upgrade your perceptions so that you can ultimately upgrade your behavior and become a better, more valuable person to the world.
You can see why most people skimp on this self-awareness thing or cheaply acknowledge, “yeah, sure, I’m self-aware!”
Not to get all philosophical or religious on you, but as humans we were born into sin. Error and selfishness are engrained into our DNA from the start.
And pop culture and social media aren’t helping us upgrade our DNA in this regard, either.
Everywhere we looked we are conditioned to think and act on me, ME, ME!!
We manipulate environments and situations, oftentimes subconsciously and even “justifiably” to best serve ourselves, but even when we do this, we are STILL left dissatisfied.
Why?
Because selfishness is poison, regardless of the angle you view it from.
And if we know selfishness is the default setting, we must work (WORK) to upgrade this setting.
This is why acknowledging my sin nature and placing my faith in Christ, who paid the penalty of my sin with his life on the cross, will forever be the most important decision I have ever made in my life.
His death on the cross does not mean that I, like Him, will be sinless, nor does it mean I will be immune to future sin, but with Him serving as my guiding light, I will live the rest of my days forever trying to be a little bit less like me and a little more like Him.
My prayer is the same for you, too.
