I heard once a man say that his
life had been governed by slight provocations...it was like an electric shock
treatment. I could feel the awakening from my toenails up. I saw that that was
pretty much the standard on which I'd based my life...shouting my battle cry as
I left yet one more life, "You'll need me before I need you!"
Realizing that truth about me, along with the fact that all my problems can be solved by spiritual principles, has led me up a new and happier road.
I've learned that it is embarrassingly simple to live a life of peace...just take nothing personally. The hard part is that nothing, unfortunately, means nothing. That slap upside our head? Not personal. That gossip behind our back? It has nothing to do with us, personally...how could it when it is so patently untrue? Not personal.
Our ego's oxygen, however, is all about personal. Resisting personal attacks, real or imaginary, is Velcro to ego. It attaches to the attacks, and only a power greater than ourselves (and it) can pry us free...or pray us free.
That's when and where we get to turn, no matter how slightly, to that higher power within us, and seek another way of receiving this seemingly personal attack. The surest (and fastest) way I've found to get that new way is to shoot a thank you and quick think of things of nature...seashores, sunsets, pine trees, anything. It is transporting. Which, of course, is our goal.
As Fr. Richard Rohr says, "That which is not transformed will be transmitted." We do not need to be transmitters when we can be transformers by simply becoming willing...willing to change our mind.
Realizing that truth about me, along with the fact that all my problems can be solved by spiritual principles, has led me up a new and happier road.
I've learned that it is embarrassingly simple to live a life of peace...just take nothing personally. The hard part is that nothing, unfortunately, means nothing. That slap upside our head? Not personal. That gossip behind our back? It has nothing to do with us, personally...how could it when it is so patently untrue? Not personal.
Our ego's oxygen, however, is all about personal. Resisting personal attacks, real or imaginary, is Velcro to ego. It attaches to the attacks, and only a power greater than ourselves (and it) can pry us free...or pray us free.
That's when and where we get to turn, no matter how slightly, to that higher power within us, and seek another way of receiving this seemingly personal attack. The surest (and fastest) way I've found to get that new way is to shoot a thank you and quick think of things of nature...seashores, sunsets, pine trees, anything. It is transporting. Which, of course, is our goal.
As Fr. Richard Rohr says, "That which is not transformed will be transmitted." We do not need to be transmitters when we can be transformers by simply becoming willing...willing to change our mind.
Thank you.
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