We hear all of this talk about being the change we want to see. What does that really mean? How do we be the changes we want to see? HMMM seems first we have to understand what changes we want to see. To do this we have to look around and see what is bothering us and we have to look inside and see what is bothering us.
When we've examined all that we find it would then probably be a good idea to ask, what would I do differently? What changes would I like to see in the world around me? What would make the world I see feel like a better, more comfortable, loving place to be? Can we imagine a different world? Can we sit quietly and picture the world the way we would like to see it?
When we've done all of that it would seem helpful to then ask, how can I change what I see outside of me? How can I change this situation? What can I myself, this one tiny human form among many, do that will change the world? (This is where I personally tend to feel overwhelmed).
The world is a huge place, full of many people and I am just one, how can I possibly make the changes throughout the whole entire world that will help create what I would like to see? How can I possibly get all of the people of the world to change and be what I would like them to be so the world is a more loving comfortable place?
Guess what...we can't! We can not change the people we see outside of ourselves. They have free will, they have the choice to be whoever and however they want to be in the world. So, what can we possibly do to change our world?
You probably already guessed it...change myself. YEP, there it is again, the only thing we can really do is change our self. The only one we can really change is our self and according to many, we draw to ourselves what we put out into the world, so if we want to see a happier, healthier, more loving, comfortable world, what can we do? Learn to be the change we want to see. WE have to learn to let go of all of our suffering, pain, negativity, hate, fear and judgment and be more loving, understanding, caring, accepting, easy going, fearless, nonjudgmental, positive and hopeful. We have to be the change we want to see and when we do this, the world we see will begin to change around us.
Sounds easy...but we all know it's not or we'd have the world we want to see right now. We've had many, many years of learning to be negative and judgmental towards ourselves, towards the world, towards each other. Letting go of the learned behavior is a process that may take a lot of time, but I think with practice and patience, we can all do it and once we do, we will be the change we want to see in the world. What changes do you want to see? Picture them and hold them in your heart.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Games People Play
Have you ever wondered why they call us the human race? What are we racing towards? What are we competing for? Why are we in a "race"? Are we really in a race? Is it all just a game?
I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I am a lab rat of some kind. Running here and there reacting to different situations and different people, needing to sniff every single thing I encounter in desperate search for a hunk of cheese. I often wonder if someone is watching me or if perhaps I am somewhere watching myself and laughing or crying at the way I react to each situation. I'm sure there are many times when a clear, simple solution has been available to my "problems", but I've complicated my own life by casting those aside for more interesting, messy, sticky solutions. Am I sitting some where watching myself and shaking my head at the messes I've made? Probably saying...WAKE UP IDIOT, it doesn't have to be that complicated! Just take the shortest route to the cheese already!
Maybe I'm just confused and crazy from all of the cheese chasing, but there also seems to be an awful lot of tail chasing going on around here...you know, when you are running around in a circle trying to catch your own tail like a dog! What's the point of that game anyway? What prize do we win when we capture our own tail?
I'm a little tired of the tail chasing. I find myself more and more exhausted with taking the difficult path and learning the hard way. Maybe I'm getting old and tired or maybe I am finally wising up or waking up, who knows? What I do know is that I am more willing now to take a step back in situations, to really look at what is going on and try to figure out why it is going on and to not make any moves until I am really clear in my heart about what move to make. I don't just spot my tail and chase it any longer, I eyeball it and see whether it's something I really want to chase or just a distraction that will take me around and around in circles. Is what I am seeing the "hunk of cheese" I want to chase after? I really have no desire to go round and round in circles any longer or run through mazes, I'd much rather break free from the mazes and circling and find myself spiraling upward.
The problem with breaking free from the circle is sometimes you spiral downwards instead of upwards. When this happens it's easy to get distracted and scared and long for our safe circular motion again. That little maze suddenly doesn't seem so bad, it's familiar and safe even though it drove us nuts! But, perhaps, we need to spiral downwards to see what it's like down there and if we are patient and loving with ourselves and hang on and really look within ourselves instead of falling back into our old game pattern, we can begin to move ourselves upward again.
Perhaps, some day when we stop playing games and searching for the cheese or chasing our tails, we will become more focused on always looking within ourselves. We will learn to focus on connecting with our heart and stop falling back into our old game patterns, we will no longer be caught circling or spiraling downward, we will only move up. Wouldn't that be amazing!
I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I am a lab rat of some kind. Running here and there reacting to different situations and different people, needing to sniff every single thing I encounter in desperate search for a hunk of cheese. I often wonder if someone is watching me or if perhaps I am somewhere watching myself and laughing or crying at the way I react to each situation. I'm sure there are many times when a clear, simple solution has been available to my "problems", but I've complicated my own life by casting those aside for more interesting, messy, sticky solutions. Am I sitting some where watching myself and shaking my head at the messes I've made? Probably saying...WAKE UP IDIOT, it doesn't have to be that complicated! Just take the shortest route to the cheese already!
Maybe I'm just confused and crazy from all of the cheese chasing, but there also seems to be an awful lot of tail chasing going on around here...you know, when you are running around in a circle trying to catch your own tail like a dog! What's the point of that game anyway? What prize do we win when we capture our own tail?
I'm a little tired of the tail chasing. I find myself more and more exhausted with taking the difficult path and learning the hard way. Maybe I'm getting old and tired or maybe I am finally wising up or waking up, who knows? What I do know is that I am more willing now to take a step back in situations, to really look at what is going on and try to figure out why it is going on and to not make any moves until I am really clear in my heart about what move to make. I don't just spot my tail and chase it any longer, I eyeball it and see whether it's something I really want to chase or just a distraction that will take me around and around in circles. Is what I am seeing the "hunk of cheese" I want to chase after? I really have no desire to go round and round in circles any longer or run through mazes, I'd much rather break free from the mazes and circling and find myself spiraling upward.
The problem with breaking free from the circle is sometimes you spiral downwards instead of upwards. When this happens it's easy to get distracted and scared and long for our safe circular motion again. That little maze suddenly doesn't seem so bad, it's familiar and safe even though it drove us nuts! But, perhaps, we need to spiral downwards to see what it's like down there and if we are patient and loving with ourselves and hang on and really look within ourselves instead of falling back into our old game pattern, we can begin to move ourselves upward again.
Perhaps, some day when we stop playing games and searching for the cheese or chasing our tails, we will become more focused on always looking within ourselves. We will learn to focus on connecting with our heart and stop falling back into our old game patterns, we will no longer be caught circling or spiraling downward, we will only move up. Wouldn't that be amazing!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Learning What's Right on the Wrong Path
We are all human and we are on this journey we call life to learn. How do we humans learn? We learn through our experiences, we learn through lessons, through listening, looking and finding understanding of the observations we've made.
It seems that each experience in our life is a lesson and if we look at each experience we will find there was something important to learn whether the experience felt "good" or "bad", "right" or "wrong".
When we experience a "good" or "right" experience we can feel happy, excited, relieved, we recognize what we've done felt "right" with our soul. We learn that what we've done, how we've acted, who we've been in that experience felt "right" it felt "good".
When we experience a "bad" or "wrong" experience we can feel guilt, shame, pain, suffering, confusion, anger, resentment, we recognize that what we've done has not felt "right" with our soul, we feel something was "wrong". What can we learn through these "bad" or "wrong" experiences? What purpose do they serve? Are they meant to bring us down and cause us to suffer and feel guilty for the rest of our lives or is there something more going on here?
Perhaps what is going on here is that we've just experienced what it feels like when we do something that doesn't fully agree with who we really are. Perhaps we aren't meant to beat ourselves up about it, judge ourselves and suffer for our choices for the rest of our lives. Perhaps we made those "bad" choices simply so that we might learn a lesson through them. Perhaps we have chosen to experience what it feels like to be on the "wrong" path so we will appreciate what it feels like to be on the "right" path.
If we believe this and understand this, we can use our "bad" lessons, the times where we've "gone wrong" to learn something and move on. It seems to be a matter of looking to see where we got off and what we could have done differently and then making changes in our current situation so that we don't repeat the same pattern of "wrong" doing.
It seems to be a matter of being willing to really look at each situation and be completely honest with ourselves about what we were up to and what our intentions were and determining how our actions made us feel and those around us feel. If they didn't feel "right" or "good" changes need to be made with us if we want to avoid experiences those "bad" feelings again or causing those "bad" feelings for others.
Some people will use the cop out of saying, "But others have a choice in how they react to what I do, I shouldn't have to change my behavior so that others feel better, it's their choice how they feel." To them I would say, it is true others have a choice in how they feel and it is also true that WE HAVE A CHOICE in how we act and if we are choosing to act in a manner that causes harm to others, that makes others uncomfortable, they probably will choose to not be around us. We can continue to choose to act in the manner we are, but we have to accept the consequences of our actions. We can continue to feel entitled and be self serving by acting in whatever manner we choose whether it hurts anyone or not or we can choose to become aware of those around us and how are actions are effecting them and we change our behavior so that we are serving everyone, not just our own selfish needs.
It is our individual choice whether or not we will take responsibility for our own actions or not. If we are willing to really look at our self, see what we've been up to, take responsibility for our own actions and make the changes necessary to create a "good" feeling, we will move forward. If we refuse to do that, we will remain stuck in our "bad" situation feeling something is "wrong" and "bad".
It is completely up to us whether we want to recognize our "wrong" behavior and what lessons we want to learn from our "bad" experiences. It is up to us to take responsibility for ourselves in each and every situation and see what we part we ourselves have played in causing them to appear as "wrong" or "bad". It is also up to us to choose whether or not to continue being a part of a situation that feels bad or if it's time to remove our self from that situation. It's our choice whether or not we want to be on a path that feels "right" or a path that feels "wrong". Each path will lead us to the same place, it's just a matter of whether we want to experience an easier, less painful path or one that seems filled with a lot of pain and suffering. It's our choice. It's that simple.
"When we see that we have gone wrong, it is our duty to
retrace our footsteps and proceed again by the right path."
- Mohandas Gandhi
It seems that each experience in our life is a lesson and if we look at each experience we will find there was something important to learn whether the experience felt "good" or "bad", "right" or "wrong".
When we experience a "good" or "right" experience we can feel happy, excited, relieved, we recognize what we've done felt "right" with our soul. We learn that what we've done, how we've acted, who we've been in that experience felt "right" it felt "good".
When we experience a "bad" or "wrong" experience we can feel guilt, shame, pain, suffering, confusion, anger, resentment, we recognize that what we've done has not felt "right" with our soul, we feel something was "wrong". What can we learn through these "bad" or "wrong" experiences? What purpose do they serve? Are they meant to bring us down and cause us to suffer and feel guilty for the rest of our lives or is there something more going on here?
Perhaps what is going on here is that we've just experienced what it feels like when we do something that doesn't fully agree with who we really are. Perhaps we aren't meant to beat ourselves up about it, judge ourselves and suffer for our choices for the rest of our lives. Perhaps we made those "bad" choices simply so that we might learn a lesson through them. Perhaps we have chosen to experience what it feels like to be on the "wrong" path so we will appreciate what it feels like to be on the "right" path.
If we believe this and understand this, we can use our "bad" lessons, the times where we've "gone wrong" to learn something and move on. It seems to be a matter of looking to see where we got off and what we could have done differently and then making changes in our current situation so that we don't repeat the same pattern of "wrong" doing.
It seems to be a matter of being willing to really look at each situation and be completely honest with ourselves about what we were up to and what our intentions were and determining how our actions made us feel and those around us feel. If they didn't feel "right" or "good" changes need to be made with us if we want to avoid experiences those "bad" feelings again or causing those "bad" feelings for others.
Some people will use the cop out of saying, "But others have a choice in how they react to what I do, I shouldn't have to change my behavior so that others feel better, it's their choice how they feel." To them I would say, it is true others have a choice in how they feel and it is also true that WE HAVE A CHOICE in how we act and if we are choosing to act in a manner that causes harm to others, that makes others uncomfortable, they probably will choose to not be around us. We can continue to choose to act in the manner we are, but we have to accept the consequences of our actions. We can continue to feel entitled and be self serving by acting in whatever manner we choose whether it hurts anyone or not or we can choose to become aware of those around us and how are actions are effecting them and we change our behavior so that we are serving everyone, not just our own selfish needs.
It is our individual choice whether or not we will take responsibility for our own actions or not. If we are willing to really look at our self, see what we've been up to, take responsibility for our own actions and make the changes necessary to create a "good" feeling, we will move forward. If we refuse to do that, we will remain stuck in our "bad" situation feeling something is "wrong" and "bad".
It is completely up to us whether we want to recognize our "wrong" behavior and what lessons we want to learn from our "bad" experiences. It is up to us to take responsibility for ourselves in each and every situation and see what we part we ourselves have played in causing them to appear as "wrong" or "bad". It is also up to us to choose whether or not to continue being a part of a situation that feels bad or if it's time to remove our self from that situation. It's our choice whether or not we want to be on a path that feels "right" or a path that feels "wrong". Each path will lead us to the same place, it's just a matter of whether we want to experience an easier, less painful path or one that seems filled with a lot of pain and suffering. It's our choice. It's that simple.
"When we see that we have gone wrong, it is our duty to
retrace our footsteps and proceed again by the right path."
- Mohandas Gandhi
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