Immersed as we are in the familiar routines of ordinary
life, it is easy for us to lose the sense of wonder that we had as children. Each fresh morning is a new birth filled with
bright possibilities.
I ask myself, will I make my day a rerun of my
yesterdays? Or, will I see, with clean sight,
the chances that are open to me? Will I see the possibilities?
If yesterday was delicious, I might follow a similar path
and set up a version of yesterday that I can enjoy today. But, I don’t need to be locked into a version
of yesterday unless I want to be. I might
have commitments like a job or family ties that seen to lay out the skeleton of
my day but the flesh of it, the tone of it, the flavor of it, comes out of my
attitudes and expectations. I get to
choose those.
It’s all about choice and choice is about thoughts. One important thing about thoughts is that I
can change them. They are more or less
under my control. I can contradict a
bad-feeling thought by internally changing the subject or I can reward a
good-feeling thought by paying attention to it and approving of it. I need to be noticing what I’m feeling/thinking
to be able to do this. The key is
attention. I need to be focused. That means that I need to be awake to my
feelings in the moment.
It is true that one thought leads to another. It is also true that any thought will lead to
another that is like itself. I can enjoy
an ascending series of good-feeling thoughts or a descending cascade of
miseries depending on my starting thought and my reaction to it. That’s my choice.
Every moment can be a new start.
The best place to start is with gratitude. If I begin my fresh new moment by saying and
feeling “thank you” for good things in my life, I will kick off a positive
chain reaction. This attention to good
things will allow me to notice other good-feeling opportunities that I can act
on to keep my energy flowing in the right direction.
The better it gets, the better it can get. The opposite is also true.
We are all chain-thinkers.
We run on habit. If we take the
trouble to redirect our thoughts toward good-feeling ones enough times, this
pattern will become our habit.
While our best alternative is to be alert, alive and fully
present in every moment, the habit of choosing good-feeling thoughts is a
pretty good second choice.
DEF: PONG---A packet replying to a ping thereby indicating the presence of a host.
ReplyDeleteMy god feeling action based on my good feeling thought is to deal with my fellow human being without initiating the use of force. In my personal actions this is not difficult. Avoiding participation in the legized initation of force is more challanging.
ReplyDeleteI acknowledge that participating in the use of legal force in my dealings with others is to my spiritual detriment and I avoid it when I can. It doesn't matter to me if the force is illegal or legally sanctioned, only that it is the initiation of force. This is my good thought, to deal with others only on a voluntary basis.
This is a sound foundation for interaction with all beings. (First, do no harm.) But, it is only the floor upon which loving kindness can be built. True heartfelt cooperation is the spirit which builds worlds. Together, there is no limit to what we can create if we build it in the spirit of oneness.
DeleteYES ! YES ! YES ? Tis indeed the floor of kindness and the spirit of oneness that must be protected and nurtured. We have in large part solved the problem of the initiation of the use of personal force by inventing government designed to take the use of force out of the hands of the individual. It is now time to solve the problem of the initiation of the use of IMPERSONAL FORCE, Which is force initiated by the use of government.
ReplyDeleteThe initiation of IMPERSONAL FORCE, through the use of government is an unworkable strategy because it disrupts the flow of the river of commerce. The river of commerce is the free choices that we make when dealing with one another. When I say " River of Commerce", please think ," Free Choice"
ReplyDeleteThe creation of government created the concept of the illegal use of force
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteApplication of force in harmony.
ReplyDeleteApplication of force in violence.