Beliefs And Standards

Everyone has a set of beliefs and standards that they have built for themselves over the years based on their individual experiences.  So does one person's view apply to another?  Whose beliefs are right and whose are wrong?  Or neither?

Being experience based, beliefs and standards are very individual.  The more fear based they are the stricter and narrower they will be.  They will also be harder to change because they are linked to survival and in some form or another have been successfully used for that purpose at some point in time.

What does happen, however, is that because of possibly a single occurrence, standards get set in place that may not be useful as the person evolves, but because of previous successful application are strictly enforced.

In order to grow, it is important to "relax" these standards and beliefs once in a while and see what happens if you make room for alternative views/rules/standards.  It doesn't mean you have to change everything, but what if something new applies to you?  What if a shift in perspective opens up a whole new side of life that you never knew existed? What if, by seeing someone else's point of view, your pain is lessened?  What if you start seeing the duality of life and how you can be on both sides?

Give it a try.  Pick any standard or rule in your life and give it space to grow.  Be open to something new and see what happens.  You might be pleasantly surprised.  :)