Years ago, a friend told me how she stopped dressing in black. She said that she dressed up all black one day and was about to set off. Her spirit told her that the colour she was putting on was meant for those who mourn. She felt cold about it and almost changed to another colour but later ignored the feeling and left. By evening, she got the shock of her father’s death.
That story played in my head for as long as I allowed it. I stopped wearing black because I was always imagining the same thing happening to me if I wore black. It took me a lot to change that mentality and I wished I never heard that story from my friend.
The Heard Mentality is a psychological phenomenon where what we hear plays in our minds and affects our actions. It is so powerful because our lives, consciously or unconsciously take the direction of what we hear and it manifests in our daily actions.
Whether from the point of scientific interpretation, personal experience, philosophical reasoning, or spiritual standpoint, what is heard creates an explanation for the actions that are taken and influences the decisions that are made.
In Mark 4:24, the Bible says, “Consider carefully what you hear, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more”. In this passage, Jesus’ emphasis was on the need for us to take heed of what we hear because it is what we hear that we use, and what we use is the direct reflection of our lives.
The decisions and actions we take in our family, business, and personal lives are largely determined by what we’ve heard. A change in life starts from a change in what’s heard, whether positive or negative. The videos, voice notes, and music that we hear create a perceived reality that affects our decisions, both the small and the big. If this perception is not filtered, it becomes our truth and reality. Sometimes, a particular piece of music plays out in our minds for long and forms our thought patterns. A message or talk we hear can stick to our brains and occupy our thoughts for so long. The voices that play in our minds are from the things we hear.
To filter what we hear starts from knowing why we engage in hearing. The ability to observe before engaging in a conversation is an attribute of mental scholars. They hear to educate, advise, learn or mentor others. Those who engage in any conversation are the social connectors who hear for the sake of gossip, banter, entertainment, or fun.
Parents need to observe their children and understand what they love to hear. Being a crucial aspect of a child’s development, hearing influences the formation of their decision-making skills. This must be guided from an early stage to help form their behaviour.
Therefore, selecting what to pay attention to and what to ignore helps us to live a more meaningful life and the habit of hearing what will benefit us is our individual choices to make.
The big question is, how much time do we waste hearing things that hold us back?
✍️Amara Ann Unachukwu
