What is your opinion?
When I am trying to decide what to wear, what color to paint, what car to drive, how I should cut my hair, or even what I should write…..where does my opinion come from? Is it that I know what I want or is that I want what the world or society wants for me? Is it because the actual thing makes me happy or is it because it makes the way other view me change and that in turn makes me happy?
Most of my blogs reference the definition of the word in question. I always find it interesting to know what the meaning is and am often surprised by these meanings. Merriam-Webster defines opinion as a) a view, judgment or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter b) approval, esteem c)belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge.
Based on the definitions above, opinions are not what I want to base my decisions on any longer. I want to live in a world of truths and not let “less strong than positive knowledge” belief systems make the choices for me. The mind is a tricky place that I am working really hard to leave behind. Mainly because the mind is based in false belief systems, judgement, low self-esteem, and constantly trying to improve others opinions of ourselves…..none of that works for me anymore. When we form an opinion we use them to guide our decisions. This becomes the space where we create our future and our reality from. If we use opinions to guide us, we are building our future on what we think we should think…..or ultimately we build our future on complete misunderstandings. Opinions are not individual like we think they are, they are built from society and community and I no longer want to live in these societal constraints anymore.
Society itself is based in opinions. People go to war, separate from their families and destroy parts of their lives over holding so tightly to their opinions! 2020–2021 has defiantly proven how crazy people get over their opinions and what they believe they stand for. This is fighting and experiencing life attached to things that are non-truth by definition. When we become defensive, we are proving we are no longer in truth and are only focused on opinions. We defend our opinions because we believe we are a summation of our opinions…..we are then defending the identity that we know isn’t based in truth. Our minds hate when we have the opportunity to see the non-truth of our identity so it makes these little things become huge emotions and blowups trying to defend the things we know we don’t even believe.
Daniel Rechnitzer has a truth course he offers. I was listening to the truth about opinions yesterday and this truth struck me hard….opinions get in the way of love. Love comes from the absence of opinions. When we argue with our children, spouses or even friends, it is just opinions getting in the way of love. Opinions prevent us from being our true selves and block us from finding our real truths. Think about it this way….opinions cannot exist without us….they are not coming from us, they are not ours. It is like claiming air around you as yours….it exists around you but it is not yours and does not come from you.
If we are in love with ourselves, opinions cannot exist. When we love unconditionally, we no longer force the opinions on others. The less opinions we carry with us, the more love we can carry!! Love just is….it is always there and has always been there, it has just been eclipsed by the opinions we think belong to us. When I make choices from judgement or opinion, my life seems harder, full of stress and like an uphill battle of beating myself up from the space of judgement. So I write the truth, not for you, but for me. I wear this shirt because it is what makes me happy and I love the way I look. When I do these things, as simple as they may seem, they lead me to more love. When my choices or decisions come from a space of unconditional love my life is easier, I am happier, and feel the truth as grace and ease.
