My song today is ‘If You Ever Change Your Mind’. This song was written by Parker McGee and Bob Gundry. It was recorded by the American country music artist, Crystal Gayle. It was released in August 1980. The song was Gayle’s eighth Number I hit. The single spent a total of 18 weeks in the charts. It also peaked at Number 18 on the ‘Adult Contemporary’ chart.
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George Bernard Shaw said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” My father was a very principled, proud, yet stubborn man and once he had made his mind up, he never changed it, even when he was wrong. Unlike dad, I have always been too pragmatic a person to get stuck down a hole I had dug for myself without wanting to escape at the first opportunity. Whenever the facts changed, I have always been prepared to change my mind, so I suppose I would never have made an MP.
As a lifelong advocate and disciple of ‘Behaviourism’, I know how powerful human thought is in governing the way we do and the things we do. We think, feel, and do in sequence, and it is this combination that determines our belief patterns, shapes our emotional experiences, and quantifies the things we do. What one thinks truly matters. Think rubbish and we are most likely to feel rubbish and talk rubbish! Think positively, and we shall automatically feel positive and most likely act positively. The same is true in the sequential form if we think negatively. Begin with a negative thought and we shall automatically feel negative consequentially and will therefore more probably act in a negative way! Such is the power of one thought. A commonly held thought has always been more powerful than the combined word of many. Most protests peter out but commonly held thoughts can start a revolution!
The greatest revolution of our generation can be witnessed in the human capacity to bring about change. We have learned that by changing the inner attitudes of our minds, we can change the outer aspects of life; the lives of ourselves and others. Whatever outer problems any human faces, they will change their circumstances for the better far more easily by working from the inside out instead of trying to change from the outside in. If there is any aspect of our outer life that we want rid of, then far easier to change how one thinks and feels about it (so its presence no longer bothers one in the same way), than to struggle and strive to physically remove it from one’s presence. Once we remove something from our trend of thought, the associated feelings attached are also removed from our emotional output. The undesired thing one initially wanted out of our life, no longer possesses the means to adversely affect our lives, even when it remains in it.
There are too many people in the world today who overconcern themselves about the thoughts and opinions of others. It is as though we are never satisfied until we convert their beliefs to ours and persuade them that our way is the best way to be. I decided long ago that while I might be influenced by the thoughts of others, I would never have my life controlled by the thoughts of others. My own peace of mind essentially came from being content to mind my own business, and not wanting to meddle in the lives of others, unless they asked for my help. Probably, the greatest discovery in my life was when I accepted that changing our thoughts can change our experience significantly, just like shaking a kaleidoscope can give us a new outcome and make the world look different.
Love and peace
Bill xxx