WE ARE THE SCULPTORS OF OUR LIVES

I can take a wad of clay in my hands and squeeze and stretch it into some form that I like.  I can squish it all together and start again if I feel like.  I can do this as many times as I want.  Clay is malleable.  It’s easy.

The same is true of that string of experiences that we call our lives.  We shape those, too.  But, we use different tools.  Instead of the fingers and sharp sticks that we use to model clay, we use our thoughts.  We use the sharp tools of our Attention and our Intention.  We use our ideas and expectations.  Life is malleable, too, but it may not seem as easy to change as squeezing clay.

That’s because we stiffen the clay of our experiences with habit.  We constantly repeat patterns of thoughts in an endless loop, hour after hour, day after day.  This is easier than being present in each moment, having fresh experiences and having to make fresh choices, but, it’s a lot less fun.  It’s the difference between being alive and not being alive.  Not being alive is easier.  This gridwork of habit loops is what makes the clay of our lives seem so tough and resistant to change.  The clay is still soft but it’s stuck in a framework of habit patterns.

Who built this mess?  We did!  As a matter of fact, each one of us is pouring energy into maintaining our personal gridwork of habit patterns at this very instant and in every moment of every day.  It is our creation.  We pay the energy bill to keep it lighted.

We could change it, of course, if we wanted to, but that’s another story.