VITAMINS FOR THE MIND by Ron Reynolds #3633 (Friday, September 5, 2014) Disgust is Good Two hundred and forty years ago, on this day – September 5th – the First Continental Congress came from throughout the thirteen colonies and gathered in Philadelphia, because they had ‘had it’ with the way Great Britain was imposing taxes, tariffs, and new laws that restrained the freedom the colonists eagerly sought and valued. The specific purpose of the gathering was to draw up a declaration of rights and grievances against England; it was a bold step for them to take. Remember, this was two full years before they had reached their maximum level of tolerance and submitted their final Declaration of Independence to King George III; sometimes, it can take quite a while for our disgust to reach the point where we make a final and irrevocable decision to take severe action. Now, having recognized what today represents in the unfolding of American history, how about you? Are you feeling any ‘disgust’ about your circumstances, are you at the end of your patience over some issue that is becoming worse as time passes, or have you tolerated the behavior of someone or of some condition to the point where you’re ready for decisive action? Being disgusted with someone or some issue in life is not, by itself, sufficient; the person or the issue probably isn’t concerned with whether you’re disgusted or not, because the person or the issue has its own life and its own agenda – regardless of how you may feel. At AdvoCare, we place a significant emphasis upon taking back more control over where your life is headed; and make no mistake, if you don’t take some action to resolve what’s ‘bugging you,’ then you had best get accustomed to ‘being bugged’ in perpetuity, because ‘things’ are not going to change until you decide to change and to do something. Here’s a thought for you to consider today; action must precede progress. If you want something to change then you have to change; you have to stand up and declare your independence from the source of your discontent; you have to show some courage, you have to show your independence, you have to display your willingness and eagerness to do whatever must be done to remove the source of your disgust, and if you fail in that responsibility, then you have nowhere else to look in order to place the blame than in a full-length mirror. There was once a person who was very close to me – a business colleague – who was a bit of a loose cannon on a very small boat. He took advantage of others, he carried stories and rumors from one person to another, and he sought devious ways to take credit for things he had not deserved. He was manipulative and he was impulsive to a fault. But everyone liked him – including me. One day, I shared a very confidential and sensitive business subject with him and told him to ‘keep it to himself.’ He didn’t, and the friendship ended – in an instant. I had confronted him with the fact that he gave me his word to keep the issue private and within twenty-four hours he had told someone. My disgust demanded that I not tolerate my frustration. Quite often, disgust is what drives us to do the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable, so don’t curse your disgust, take action to eliminate the source of it. If you think the pain of doing something is too much, wait until you experience the eventual pain of doing nothing. The views expressed on this post are those of Ron Reynolds and do not necessarily reflect the views of AdvoCare.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:00:02 +0000