Input Leads to Belief

What we believe begins with a source of input. Something said to us; something we saw; something we felt; or smelled... ("whoever smelt it dealt it" is a subject for another day). And depending on when the input occurred, we have allowed that to become a "truth" in our lives. Allow me to explain the last statement: in our formative brain, we allow unfiltered input as truth until around the age of 6. After that, we begin to consciously decide what is truth with some sort of discernment, and scrutiny. The scrutiny that we use later in life (for most of us, after the age of 12) may be filtered through what we THOUGHT was true earlier in life. I have begun to look at what I believe, and ask myself if it is "true" to me, or is it just something I thought was true. I believe people are good, generous, compassionate, and honest at their core. I believe they sometimes choose actions that are contrary to their nature, and we tend to focus on those "out of character" moments to define them as cynical, negative, and hopeless. Most people are not like that- only about 20% are (another subject again #20/60/20rule). So what you believe says a LOT about who YOU are, and what is in your character and belief system...not so much about those "other" people.