Something got your goat? Meditation for 7/3/14

Mimosa Tree in Georgetown SC

“A small leak will sink a great ship.”   Benjamin Franklin

“The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.”   William Booth (founder of Salvation Army)

     Obsession is defined as a persistent preoccupation with an unwanted idea or thought, usually accompanied with the symptoms of stress.   Someone isn’t doing what we think is proper and despite our best efforts they continue with the destructive behavior.  An institution is putting up roadblocks that keep us from getting what we want or what we think we need.  An upcoming event has us terrified with its potential for an outcome we consider to be detrimental to us.  These and a million other issues can become our sole focus at the expense of everything around us.  Because we are obsessed with something we cannot change, we lose our focus on five other things we can have impact on, and now we have six problems.  Next we avoid looking at our part in the mess and dive straight into self pity.   While in self pity we ignore another four things we should be attending to, and ten problems soon overwhelm us with all of the accompanying pain and confusion.  

     Identifying things we cannot change and altering our focus as soon as possible gives us a chance to avoid cascading complications and pessimism.   A few simple steps alter this course, and the earlier we take them the less pain we endure.  First, we need to identify that the problem is beyond our control and isolate it from other issues we may have bunched together with it mentally.  Then, surrender to it and accept it.  Surrender does not mean giving up or condoning what is going on, rather it signals a re-focusing of efforts.  If we are mature enough to say “This is bigger than me, I am giving it up to a power greater than myself to deal with,” we can quickly shift focus to seeking to change things that we are capable of making a positive difference with.  Then we launch into positive action – action is always the key.  If we are still obsessing, we make a list of things we are grateful for and grateful we do not have, find someone who genuinely needs help and unconditionally do what we can to be of service to them.  Then, even if the worst possible outcome happens, (which it almost never does) we will at least slip under the waves with some class.

Today, may I live in solutions. 

Happy Thursday!!

David

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