Hello! Do you really want to hang on so tightly to that idea?

“It’s not what you don’t know that kills you, it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t true.”
–Mark Twain
If you’re a parent, your kids have undoubtedly accused you of T.M.I. It stands for “too much information.” That’s what I want to address today.

Over our lifetime, we receive T.M.I., most of which is T.M.F.I. (“too much false information.”) I’m talking about such accepted concepts as:

“Life is hard.”
“It takes a long time to accomplish anything of value.”
“Relationships are continuously challenging.”

These accepted bits of information are what British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins calls “memes.” In short, it’s a concept that explains how ideas, behaviors and styles spread from person to person within a culture. Like genes, they self-replicate, mutate and are capable of playing havoc with our lives.

Most of us are unaware of how big a role memes play in the way we experience life. They’re like the kitchen junk drawer that’s filled with a bunch of forgotten items: a dried up magic marker, rusty scissors, old birthday cards from people you don’t even remember and keys that probably used to open something although you’re not sure what.

For those of us interested in manifesting and creating our own reality, it’s important to clean out the junk drawer, to examine the memes that run our belief systems.

Here are a couple popular memes I have decided to abandon:

1. “It’s necessary to get 8 hours of sleep.”

Who came up with that figure? It certainly wasn’t Thomas Edison who liked to boast that he slept but three or four hours a night and that he sometimes worked for 72 hours straight. The Course in Miracles makes it very clear that the only thing that makes us tired is our thoughts. And, of course, our commitment to the meme that you MUST get eight hours of sleep.

That particular meme has been a boon for the pharmaceutical industry that has made a killing out of Ambien and other sleep drugs.

I prefer this meme: “I always get the right amount of sleep.”

2. “If you’re overweight, you should diet.”

Ahhhhh, right? Whoever generated that particular meme should be marched to the guillotine. Dieting only resets your metabolism lower. It should be obvious to all of us that diets DO NOT WORK!! Except for the diet industry that has made billions off that big, fat lie.

I prefer this meme: “I can eat whatever I want and maintain a perfect weight.”

3. “It’s imperative to put your nose to the grindstone if you want to make any money.”

Also known as “nothing good comes without hard work,” this little myth perpetuates a lot of pain and suffering. The truth is everything originates with our thoughts. EVERYTHING. In fact, when you do what you love, working is more like playing. It’s big fun, the thing you’d do even if you weren’t being paid.

Hard work plays no part of it and besides, what exactly is a grindstone?

My meme of choice regarding finances is this: “The more fun I have in my work, the more money I make.”

What are some of the memes that run your life?

Pam Grout is the author of 18 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the about to be released, Thank and Grow Rich: a 30-day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy