Always too much on your plate? Meditation for 3/19/14

Brays Island; SC

"Nothing is more difficult than competing with a myth."  -  Francis Giroud

"A liar is full of lavish oaths."  -  Pierre Corneille

     Not living up to the expectations of others can be a great source of frustration.  It is easy to say that others just set their expectations too high, but a lot of the time we cause the problem ourselves, whether we realize it or not.  Trying to live up to something that we cannot do creates all manner of difficulty for ourselves and for others.

     Over-promising is easy to do.  Sometimes we do it because we are trying to please others or have them think highly of us.  Sometimes we think we need to exaggerate our abilities in order to get a certain opportunity.  Other times we just don't take the time to think through all that we have going on and if we will actually have the time and energy to do what it is that we are promising.  Often we hear something that sounds good on the surface and we commit ourselves without taking the time to research the situation and think it through.  But usually it is just that we want other people to like us.

     And how does this work out?  We end up frustrated and others come to view us as unreliable.  We either work ourselves into a frenzy trying to get done what we promised (all the while nursing a grudge) or we conveniently "forget" and rationalize our failure to do what we promised.  This all is compounded by the fact that the people we promise things to make their own commitments to still others based upon what we have said we will do.  Soon, we have harmed more people than we will ever be aware of - all because we wanted the immediate gratification of an "atta-boy."

     It is important to remember that our good qualities are much more appreciated by others when they notice them from our actions rather than us informing them of them.  It is also important to realize that if we do not promise to do something and later choose to do it, we now are approaching it as a service to another rather than an obligation we are stuck with.  It is just one more way that honesty makes our lives a good bit easier.

Today, may I be real.

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Have a great Wednesday !!

David