The Grasshopper offered this last night: “Too much respect is paid to the dead and not enough to the living.”

On first blush, it sounded disrespectful but then the message got clearer. It seems it has more to do with ideas than it does with people.

What are dead ideas? – Ideas that live on that should have died a long time ago.

How do they manage to live on? – Because undue reverence is given to them for what they did, rather than what they’re doing now. These ideas belong in a history book, not a modern day manual.

Imagine walking into your physician with a common ailment and them recommending bloodletting as a remedy. As laughable as that may seem, it took awhile for that practice to work its way out of the medical care protocols. It was a dead idea that lived on because it received too much reverence.

What ideas or beliefs are you invested in that aren’t paying any dividends? Are they getting outdated reverence? The real question is: What beliefs do we own that need updating?

The simple answer is this: The ones that aren’t working for us.

Are you giving lip service to a belief that isn’t servicing you? You bet. We all do.

To isolate that outdated idea takes a bit of reflection. Here’s a question worth taking into a meditative moment: What belief do I own that isn’t working for me?

Don’t ponder the answer; just ask the question and let the answer bubble up.

Our outdated beliefs act as anchors, holding us in place or dragging us down. Bringing them to the surface allows us to see all the barnacles that have grown on them, adding to their weight.

Once you have the recognition that an idea has lived on past its expiration date, it’s time for a proper burial. Give it all the respect that it’s due, then move on with your life and welcome in something workable and new.

It’s spring, the season of life – time to prune the dead branches and make room for ideas truly worth your reverence.

All the best,

John