In the times of uncertainty many are confused about what is right or wrong. Everything is packed with “Big data” and our brain alone is incapable of decision. Therefore we should learn to take advice from proper people.
We live in a world full of lies and half-truths. When people are in greed and need, we say anything just to strengthen their position and gain desirable results and we can hide it very well also. So how to spot a lie ? How to find a trustworthy person?Let’s have a look on few ways how to take good advice.
It’s unfortunate but almost all available information is based on personal or global propaganda. This is not a conspiracy theory but a simple truth about human exploitative tendencies.Also,knowingly or unknowingly everyone’s opinion is shaped by the opinion of someone more influential. As the saying goes,”Man is known by the company he keeps.”,we should be aware that by following someone we will end up in similiar circumnstances as he is.
There are 3 main factors we should have in mind simultaneously when taking advice:
Most obvious is that our person should be experienced. We don’t want to get advice and end up confused or in some trouble. If you need to fix a PC you will most likely not ask the gardener.This is pretty clear but if we go more deep, we want to answer really important life questions like : “Who am I? What is next step in my life? What should be my goal?” ,we should look for someone who is expert in “art of living”.
Another important thing to consider is if a person is affectionate toward us, and has no selfish motives. This will be very rarely fully possible,because honestly who is completely selfless? Family, partners and friends come to mind as first. Such connections are very strong but in today enviroment, packed with different information we may very easily get attracted to some mysterious, “new” type of knowledge.Then we prefer asking questions from some stranger on a blog, rather than from our close relatives, even if it is reasonable to consider them as our wellwishers.
For example parents will “never” advise us about something risky or dangerous.So this can give us a safe position. But as they are in different age, life situation and mind set, their advice might not be very rewarding. This bring us to third consideration.
Like-mindedness. If someone tells you what you want to hear ,even without your hint, it feels so good right ? It is in “resonance”. We will take such advice very enthusiastically. This is why kids naturally prefer association of friends rather than parents.In those reciprocations we cannot expect such emphasis on safety but they lead to many memorable and funny moments. But be careful, the mind is changing very fast so we can also expect some broken hearts. Therefore we should be conscious about all aspects mentioned. Plus there are more charecter traits which our advisor should have and which we want to develop also.
He should not be pretentious. This is seen very often. Some try to show off their knowledge by posing themself as very successful but reality is very different. Cheating or saying half-truths is very fast way to get audience. As I mentioned, people like to hear what they want to hear.
Therefor we should be very clear about our intention.If we go searching for knowledge as to how to exploit someone ,we will most likely get exploited ourselfs. At least if we follow our third rule of “expert teacher”.Expert exploiter. Nice examples are speculative business trainers, insurance advisors,salesmans,false gurus and politicians. Instead of our desired knowledge as how to gain money and power, we end up in Ponzi schemes or political plots.
Really experienced person who you want to take advice from will be humble and self satisfied. He will not push you into anything. But at the same time he will be very direct , which can be sometimes unpleasant. But if we think about it . We really want to have someone who is honest with us. Tell us things as they really are ,in a very straightforward manner without consideration of his own image.
If you have this in mind you can free yourself from many doubts. Taking advice from a proper person should lead to a series of very challenging but favorable events. And if the outcome is good, then you know that your person is spiritually advanced and not some charlatan. His words will be alligned with “universal” truths and naturaly logical.
Taking advice is science. After we take advice we should carefuly deliberate it, but at same time we should be willing to apply it. Becouse if we don’t act then we will never know result. And we should continusly have that in mind till particular situation that we was interested in, is not fully resolved. In other word we should be faithfull to that person becouse this reciprocation is forming a relationship. You honestly show that you are interested in the opinion of that person and at same time you test his interest in you. If you are humble and he neglects you then you know he is not proper person. If he gives you proper advice and you ignore it then you may not get chance again.
So to sum up. Make clear of your goal and don’t worry to approach for help. We are not God, it is okay to ask. But be very careful who you ask, since that will shape your future.
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Thank you and good luck;)