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
No comments:
Post a Comment