Robot or human? Which are you?

After an intensive interactive session with the 30+ year old executive students at university this morning, one said "I would never express myself like this if my boss was sitting beside me." Another added, "It starts when we go to school. We have to sing a song in front of class and that makes us all feel like idiots. Then we are trained to do as we are told without question. We are never asked what we think." Another student questioned, "Why is it the companies want creativity and innovation, yet when I'm at a job interview I am never asked what I think or anything to do with my creativity or ability to innovate? They only want to know if I can do the job." Are we being trained to shut up and mindlessly take instruction?  Perhaps it is no wonder that after the age of 7 children have lost much of their imaginative ability, their willingness to ask "why?" and their willingness to try.. Until turning seven, what is later named failure, was just another fun experience. After then, the word failure is the label given for trying and then experiencing an outcome that was different from expectations... usually others. We are judged and begin to judge ourselves according to others standards. And the outcome? Could it be, one ceases being ones own person and instead becomes the standard model others want us to be? Does one cease to think for oneself and become disconnected and mistrustful of ones own natural wisdom? Have we  become like those USA college graduates who were questioned a few years ago to see how well they could appropriately apply in different situations what they had learnt? They were found to have the ability of seven year olds. Unless we are encouraged, we can lose our creative spark, initiative and willingness to experiment and try and to fully live. How do we break free from becoming a human robot? The steps back to sanity and our humanity: 1. recognise what thoughts, beliefs and values you have inherited from others and ask yourself, do these really serve me? 2. go into your heart. Move out of your mind, tune into how you feel and ask how do I want my life to be? 3. ask, what thoughts, beliefs, values and actions will cause me to experience my life the way I want it? Start to think, feel and act accordingly. Use your imagination and envisage you and your life being the way that allows you to feel the greatest amount of joy. The result. The kind of life you have been experiencing that has not worked for you, will simply fade away. You will begin to feel a shift. Rather than finding life draining you, you will have more energy, more enthusiasm, more inspiration and more joy for living. What's more, you will get more done with far less stress and effort. Being true to yourself, rather than a copy of others expectations, is totally empowering. You come alive to yourself and life. You become a full human. Only when you are, can you be of service to others.