What Do You Chose To Do?
Last night, our son’s dog (really he’s a Saluki, which could be considered something like a human with four legs) couldn’t make up his mind where to sleep. Due to Ty being in town picking up his sweetheart, Red started out in our bed, but couldn’t get settled. Did he miss his human or was he just restless? After a number of ins and outs of our bed, he just took over my side of the bed, relegating me to surrender to the couch.Even after Ty got home, Red insisted on being in our bed until I forcefully picked him up and delivered him to my son’s room… This was about 4 a.m. and I was in no mood for careful consideration of the Saluki’s feelings.
These are the kinds of things that can get people to choose to be upset. Frustrated that sleep was interrupted all night, blaming the son for being irresponsible with his critter, bummed out that my place in MY bed is so easily swiped by a dog… blah, blah, blah… but think about it. Haven’t you used something as (relatively minor) like what I’ve described here as a really good reason to go off into negativity?
We’ve all done it, at one time or another, and it’s acceptable. You “get” to be upset…
But … wonder if, you chose to be curious about what happens, instead of offended or upset? What would happen? Is it possible that you could have an “upsetting” experience and once the experience was over, you just smiled and wondered why that happened without all the “acceptable” negativity.
Waking up in your life means that you choose how you feel. You don’t let what happens to you or what other people say or do, decide for you how your going to respond. If you run everything through a filter of, “will this make or break me, this thing that just happened. And if it’s really serious, do I still have to be upset about it?”, how much better would your life become?
We are all aware of the devastating earthquake in Japan from March 11th (click on this to see ways you can help out and links for more information about the crisis). The consistent conversation between most of us centers around deep concern for human life and the freakish number of natural (and not so natural) disasters that have been visited upon us little humans. What’s going on? Why are all these things happening and who should we be in the face of them?
Without going into some apocalyptic negativity about it all… it seems that it takes TONS of intensity to wake us up. Nothing will ever shift in the human pantheon without the energy of strife to solicit it. Remember when we were all glued to the televisions during the 9/11 attacks? The initial response from most people was love. The people going down on the planes sent messages of love to their wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, etc. They were about to die and all they wanted to share was the feelings of love they had. No revenge, no anger, no blame… just love.
Within a few short days, the language then became hostile and blaming… Soon, our country started bombing another country and you know where that went. Still, our collective organic response was about love… as THAT IS WHO WE REALLY ARE.
The people in Japan are right now, at the epicenter of a huge (literal) shift and probably doing nothing more than trying to find their loved ones, a place to sleep, some water & some food… They may not have time to lament how hard it is to be in the disaster area that has become their life, so they are simply putting one foot in front of the other hoping there are some people in the world who will lend them all a hand. We’re all in this together, but most of the time we tend to focus on things that don’t serve us, or our collective experience.
Not even an entire day passed before the tsunami made it’s was to our little harbor here in Santa Cruz, CA. I thought “how can anyone actually believe that we aren’t connected??”. In a matter of only 10 hours, waves of water gushed into various harbors across the Pacific Ocean leaving a huge mess and a few deaths in it’s wake. (That’s something like 600 miles per hour!!!).
There simply is no way for me to entertain the idea that I’m not connected to everyone else and I KNOW that if I raise my voice or my hand in anger to another, the shock wave will be felt across oceans. It’s time more of us could remember that fact and be more peaceful.
As I look at some of the videos of what’s happening to the communities, families and individuals in Japan, I’m aware of how my own heart lurches with fear, while it fills with compassion for them. I want to help somehow… I feel them.
These are the ways that I feel I can help them, aside from tangible donations I can make with money or clothing…
- 1. Be 100% honest with everyone, even if it’s upsetting.
- 2. Focus on what’s good in the world, not what bugs me.
- 3. Being committed to being peaceful, no matter how challenging that may be… as peaceful as possible.
Few of us take the time to be thoughtful about the impact we make on our own lives with our choices. We’re amazingly adept at finding where and how to lay blame out to the world around us or other people. Maybe all we need is to take to heart what’s happening on this planet and recognize that each of us has a say in how all this ends up.
Ask yourself… “Am I wandering around being upset about things going on around me? Am I getting offended and righteously indignant regularly?”
If you are, is it serving you? Just for today, take into account that all that’s happening is an indication of a larger picture of human consciousness and you can make a difference by being who you really are… Love, Kindness, Compassion, Tolerance, Constancy and Presence…
Blessings to you all!
Kyle