THE ART OF AGREEMENT

The way to peace of mind is long, rough, rocky...and, confusing the way with the result, not very appealing to our reasoning mind. We pray for peace of mind, expecting it to be gifted us, and then we will say, "Thank you."

As long as we are in disagreement with anybody about anything, we will find peace of mind elusive if not impossible. Because as long as we are in disagreement, we are not in control of our own reactions. And it is not the other person or the other person's argument that is controlling our reactions, it is our resistance that is in control of us.

I read in the Dear Amy column this morning, "You will feel better when you are more in control of your own reactions." That's it. That is it.

And learning the way to get control of our own reactions is to learn the art of agreement. A simple, "Of course you are right...why didn't I think of that?" is all we need to remember. And don't you feel a frisson of resistance just reading that?

But remember...we are just learning. We are stepping out into the unknown of learning to agree, rather than continuing to defend our position, right or wrong, which never did, never will bring peace of mind. Let's face it, "defend" equals "resist," plain and simple.

In the learning, the basic rule we hold to our heart, our soul, our brain is, "To thine own self be true."  The reasoning mind sees agreement as appeasement...it is not. That's why agreement is an art. We get to learn to be true to ourselves, to agree with another's premise with which we don't feel amenable, and  know...I can't do this. BINGO. That very knowing is our call for reinforcements...a.k.a., God.

We know S/He's got our back, why not invite It to do Its thing? And all we need is the courage to say, "Thank You" in our heart, then speak our simple sentence, and back off. This is also known as holding your nose and taking a leap of faith.

There are two parts to this lesson: (1) sometimes it works exactly as we wanted; and (2) sometimes  the result we want is entirely different from the result we get. Which, with patience, we find always is for the better.

Thank You.