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Mindset, Memory Serum and Change: Part II


I just finished the Divergent series while recuperating from surgery.  Reading Veronica Roth's Divergent, Insurgency and Allegiant while reading Carol Dweck's  "Mindset" at the same time is a trip!  

In one of the final chapters of Allegiant, Peter has decided to take the vile of memory serum to "reset" himself.  Tobias tells him, "You could just do the work, you know," I say. "You could make better decisions, make a better life."  Then he says, "I know change is difficult, and comes slowly, and that it is the work of many days strung together in a long line until the origin of them is forgotten.  He is afraid that he will not be able to put in that work, that he will squander those days, and they will leave him worse off than he is now.  And I understand that feeling-I understand being afraid of yourself." (Veronica Roth, 2013 Katherine Tegen Books)

It would be easier.  To take a vial of serum and start again.  No shame, guilt, woulda, coulda or shouldas.  To wake up at age 45 with a clean slate to be simply programmed.  To erase and not have to work on the thousand reasons I sabotage and procrastinate.  

If I did take a memory serum, what would I want someone to tell me about myself?  

I would want them to tell me I love risk taking and change.  That I embrace failure and mistakes as a path forward.    As the beginning of a chain of days strung together, I would want them to imprint the Bible on this fresh mind so I believed I could do all things in His strength.  

Truth serum would take out the dependence and relationship piece of change.  Change would not have to occur within the 10,000 interactions a day.  Change would be outside of relationships.  

How would one have a relationship without all of those memories, interactions and trust?

In reality, God has called us to renew our minds daily.  Mindset is a set of beliefs.  Beliefs tend to get messed up within perception and experience.  Instead of the truth of God's Word, I take within myself the value, perception and "truth" of my world.  Why?  It is easier to absorb what I feel instead of the discipline to do the work.

Mindset is my choice.  

Mindset is mine to own.  







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