You Know

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, 

and you shall have the suffrage of the world." 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 21 Assignment: You Know by Jen Louden

We live in a society of advice columns, experts and make-over shows. Without even knowing it, you can begin to believe someone knows better than you how to live your life. Someone might know a particular something better – like how to bake a three-layer molten coconut chocolate cake or how to build a website – but nobody else on the planet knows how to live your life better than you. (Although one or two people may think they do.) For today, trying asking yourself often, especially before you make a choice, “What do I know about this?”

My boss frequently walks into my office in the morning and asks, "What does Cheree know today?" My mood determines the response... some days it's "not much", other days it's "more than I knew yesterday"...



Certainly, there are a lot of so-called experts out there that would like to tell us how to live, what to do, what it takes to be a success, what will make us happy, etc. The funny thing is, there are a lot of people out there who will buy into that which is, incidentally, why there are so many experts and gurus out there willing to share the "secret" with you ... for a price, of course.

So, why do we buy snake oil? I think there are a couple of reasons. For one thing, we are always looking for a quick fix. We want to be that there is an actual, real-deal, get rich quick method, so many people spend a lot of money and waste a lot of time on the next bright shiny object just to find out it's yet another scheme, not a full-proof method. Someone is getting rich. That's the one selling the scheme to the customer that's born every minute. (No, Barnum never actually said a sucker was born every minute.)

"The miser is in a hurry to get rich and does not know that loss is sure to come."

~ Proverbs 28:22

I think another reason we are willing to listen to the experts and gurus instead of discovering how to do things ourselves is that we think it absolves us of responsibility. After all, "he said" or "she said" it would work, so it isn't my fault.

One of the big problems with believing someone else knows better is that just because it worked for them does not necessarily mean it will work for you. Unless you are dealing with universal, spiritual principles, then there are too many other factors involved that can change the outcome. The best route for you to success may not work for me. In fact, your definition of success is probably quite different from mine.

Can I get helpful tips and insight from others? Absolutely! And I may find that I want to incorporate some of them into my life. In fact, seeking counsel is a sound biblical principle.

"The way of a fool seems right to him, 

but a wise man listens to advice."

~ Proverbs 12:15

But, before I follow someone else's advice, I will always go within. If we allow God to guide us, it's easy to tell when the advice is something we should follow. It will either ring true, or it won't. When you hear truth, it resonates in your being. You may not have any proof, but you just know. And when you act on what you know, you become unstoppable!

#Trust30 Day Twenty-One