So I'm into my yoga this morning and I hear myself setting good old Gertrude straight...who I sense is having a problem with me. (For no good reason, what did I ever do to her?, get over yourself, Gertrude.)
I then remember that I have a couple others in mind from whom I'm getting negative vibes. The good news is I have been consciously practicing the Sermon (agree with your adversary quickly) on those two. And my doing has been remarkably on target. I have not been as nasty as I wanted to be in any instance and have gone out of my way to do for them...to do very little, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.
The fact is that our thoughts can be fairly drag-foot when it comes to changing from irritation to love...from resistance to non-resistance. But there it is. That's the key...our thoughts. When our thoughts get too agitated, we need to practice the discipline of turning immediately to something else. Anything else, but most helpfully to something of beauty...mental pictures, poems, a loved one, whatever.
It does not matter if our agitated thoughts are directed outward at another or inward at ourselves...they are fear, that is all. Since fear is part of the human condition, we won't let it go completely, but we can consider it our invitation to God to get cracking...to do his thing. Remembering to thank him for relieving us of the bondage of self.
Most important is the realization that if we still felt agitated, it's not God failing, it's us hanging on...to our human condition rather than our spiritual condition. The choice is ours.
Thank you.
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