Meditation for 12/17/13

Colleton River Plantation; Bluffton SC

“I may not be responsible for my first thought, but I am responsible the next thought and for the action I take.”  -  Anon

“The tree of revenge does not bear fruit.”  - Dutch Proverb

     If we acted out on the first thought that comes to mind every time life throws us a curve-ball, most of us would long-since be in prison or dead.  When someone steals our assets or our time, gossips, breaks a confidence or otherwise compromises us love and tolerance just do not seem to be our default mode.  Counter-gossip, sabotage, bodily harm or other forms of retaliation quickly follow the initial shock of realizing we have been betrayed.  We can spend the rest of our lifetime nursing a grudge and either developing or obsessing about an opportunity for revenge.

     We can just as quickly develop a defeatist attitude when something takes us by surprise.  “What’s the point?” we say, and proceed to indulge in our own negative behavior, whether that be an addiction to food, booze, pharmaceuticals, sex or just plain withdrawal from society.   Soon we find ourselves bogged down in the muck as we revive old behaviors we have worked hard to put behind us.  As time goes by we reinforce the incident in our mind, giving it ever more power over our life and our actions.  These things are called “resentments” because whenever we pull up the tired old memories we re-live the incident, or “re-sense” it.  Over time it becomes so ingrained in our psyche that it becomes part of our identity.  Over time we heap more on top of it, and before long we are like a cell phone that has a bunch of programs running in the background.  Even if we find some new energy or vitality we are quickly drained of it and end up useless to ourselves or others.

     Just as when we first awaken each day, there is a window of opportunity that we can take advantage of when negative circumstances first arise.  We can choose to take the time to pause and replace our first thought with one that will serve us better.  We can choose the path of acceptance – bringing the serenity prayer to mind often helps.  We can choose to view others as doing the best they can with what they have and feel empathy for those that are so emotionally sick that they feel better about themselves by harming others.  We can reach out for insight from wise others who are detached from the situation.  We can choose to live in love rather than fear, and remember that if we use the occasion as a teaching point God will see to our needs in the long run.  But whatever we do, we must stop the negative thoughts from getting too deeply ingrained or we ourselves become the negativity.  With practice, we will find that there is nothing that life can throw at us that we cannot find acceptance for and bridge ourselves back into gratitude.  It’s a choice we make – one moment and one negative thought at a time.

Today, may I be responsible for myself.  D.Emch