The debate about nature or nurture will go on as long as people are debating. I would like to make a point or two about the less popular nurture.

How often have you heard the following phrases?:

“I’m competitive by nature.”

“I’m frugal by nature.”

“I’m cautious by nature.”

I’m sure you can add your often used “naturisms” to that list.

I’m as certain as I can be that you didn’t come out of the womb predestined to be Scrooge McDuck, yet many will debate that they were.

When you realize that many things you ascribe to nature actually belong to nurture, you discover that what is currently second nature to you was actually nurtured over time.

With this discovery comes freedom – freedom to stop alibiing your behavior by calling it your nature, and the ability to nurture new behaviors if you so choose.

Once your excuse is gone, there’s nothing to hide behind.

You can continue to argue for your conditioning for the rest of your life or you can start the reconditioning process by noticing how you have mislabeled nurture as nature.

“That’s just the way I am” most often translates to “That’s just the way I was conditioned.”

Once you know that, you’ll have the opportunity to stop the debate about your nurtured limitations and move closer to your true nature.

All the best,

John