Understanding Why

The roots of our struggles go very deep, they’re not just at the level of how we behave, they’re rooted in the structure of how we think. If you don’t understand why this is so, nothing will ever change…


Changing your mental structure is like turning a battle ship, the intention to turn happens right away, but the turn itself is gradual. It’s as though you know you need to start turning right away, but you don’t understand why. Here’s what needs to be done if you’re to get in touch with breaking free of this mental structure. It’s really not complicated, when something is done understanding why is needed. No reason to go all the way back for a childhood reason, why it’s being done right now is sufficient. Here’s an example: in 1935 a man named Bill had a drinking problem. He was sober for six months when he went on a business trip which didn’t turn out in his favor. The ensuing thought that came to him was to get drunk, fear gripped him, but he was able to draw on the base of what he learned in the six months he was sober; to reach out to another person with a drinking problem. He did this and basically AA was started. This isn’t to say AA doesn’t do good things, it’s just to show how it could possibly be more effective in helping people.


I know this post will not sit well with some people, but that’s not really my concern. All that happened to this man Bill was a business deal went sour, nothing more. Why he wanted to get drunk wasn’t understood so a program was developed that could have been so much more effective if he understood why he wanted a drink when all that happened was things didn’t go the way that he wanted. If he understood this the situation would have turned out much different.


If the need to reach for something happens because life throws you a curve ball and you don’t understand why, you will use a distraction not to succumb to uncomfortableness, but you’ll never be free because you’ll never understand why the reaching was needed in the first place. If you don’t understand this you’ll just substitute one thing for another and in the process remain trapped to what’s causing the need to reach. You may not like this post and you may even ignore it, but don’t be surprised when life throws the next curve ball and you find yourself reaching for something; you just won’t know why you’re doing so…