You're Not A Good As You Think You Are.

This is refreshing for me to write and for me to remind myself.

It's not to tear you down either nor is it a reflection up your potential.

Case in point: The Nazi concentration camps were run by people just. like. YOU. Granted it allowed sociopaths and psychopaths out of the bag to run amuck but not everyone was one of those.

You may say, no, "I would never be part of that!"

But how do you really know?

We are products of our environment and when no one is looking and there are no real consequences for your actions...you may be surprised at the things you do.

Really think for a second. People who deal with drugs in the favelas of Brazil or Ghettos of L.A are products of their environment.

If you literally had to fight for survival you would really do virtuous acts as a way of being?

If you took those same people in those locations out at birth they would NOT be engaging in that activity. So it's really easy to get all judgy on people but YOU would not be you in their situation. 

Let's understand the basics of the human condition.

We all have opposites. Left, right. Positive, negative. Etc etc.

We all have a light, joyful, bright side to us which forms our ego.

We all have a dark side, dark thoughts or as Carl Jung said a "shadow."

I mean think about it.

Why is it harder to think good and be good, than it is to think bad and be bad? It's almost no effort to fall into the shadow.

Experiment with yourself...say out loud every single thought that comes through your mind OUT LOUD and to the people around you. 

What you TRULY think. NO FILTER. Scary, right?

I don't think anyone would have friends...our morals guide us better.

But what is moral? The best way I heard this described as a test to know if you have good morals.

The moral test was simple. If you are aware of your own personal capacity for bad behavior, you know you have the capacity to hurt others, damage reputations, inflict pain, physical harm people, kill people, steal, or any other myriad of horrid behavior and you do not engage in it - you have good morals.

The social experiment has been run many times and it turns out that the atrocities of war, depressions, riots, civil unrest are committed by people just like you and me.

THAT IS SOME SCARY SHIT.

It's easy to judge and say if I were a leader of a communist-run, dictator country I would be x, y, and z but...would you really? 

People are products of their environment and time and power tend to corrupt all individuals if it's not held in the appropriate checks and balances. [but even then.]

Another point is it's not about having high self-esteem [which I have been reading about and apparently it doesn't exist and not in some "reality isn't real" thing]. The world's leading bullying expert stated that bullies have overly high self-esteem NOT low self-esteem a.k.a cowards. TOO much self-esteem which is why they feel they can pummel your face.

Knowing all this is humbling because it makes me feel like I can strive to be a better person and equips me to live a values-based, good moral driven life.

Being not as good as you think you allow you to push yourself harder to be a better human and do what you think is right - when no one is looking.

On a side note: anthropologists have known for a long time that in tribes the best hunters in tribes NEVER, EVER get praise or even a bigger piece of meat when they bring back a big kill.

In fact, the tribe brings them down a little bit by being sarcastic about the size of the kill to help humble them. 

The reason? Because they will think they are too good to do their part in the community.

So perhaps there is something to the tall-poppy syndrome? 

Personally, I have seen this play out dozens of times with people who were very humble beginners in dancing but after a few years of learning, experience, winning, and praise start thinking they are God's gift to dancing and they have ALL fallen from grace.

Knowing you are good at what you do and aim to do good throughout life and then thinking you are too good are very different things.

You owe it to yourself to create the best version of you not fall down into your shadow and live there.

A person who becomes fully self-actualized, aware, and gets their life together is of a far greater chance of falling into malevolence.

You may not be as good as you think you are but you can certainly be a whole lot better.

Vaughan.