The revelation for today is that everyday is another day and that running away from responsibilities such as filling out tax forms on time is an effective attempt at self-destruction. And that the usual alleviation of stress by adding more stress in the form of alcohol, cigarettes, or other drug related substances is just as erroneous and self-destructive. Temporarily relieving pain with more pain only causes more stress and more pain until we break the pain chain and set ourselves free. And that is what I did today. And it feels good. Feeling healthy allows me the empowerment to know that I can meet the challenges of the day and of my life with vigor. And through my yoga and meditation and chanting I began the day with my priorities in order. Taking time for me first is the way to set a self-empowered positive tone for the day, so the song of my day is a good one rather than a self-defeating one.
The reason I say self-defeating is because since I have become a practicing Buddhist, I have been confronted with many of my demons. I told a friend that I wouldn't want to meet these guys in a dark alley. These demons came in the form of jealousy, anger, even rage at times. They came in the form of other people who triggered these serpents to crawl out of their dark holes into the light of my life. And once out, I was forced to take a good look at what had been a part of me that I wasn't even aware of. I had been good at playing the one who never gets jealous for so long I had no way to deal with the monster that emerged out of me.
For today, I don't have to have all the answers. This morning I watched these jealous thoughts with amazement. I watched them grow in size and strength. The more I focused on the spiral of cause and effect my ego mind or jealous monster wound and beckoned me to follow the hungrier I became for more of the same. It left little morsels of irresistible triggers in it's wake knowing that I would have to follow. The more of this irrational logic I followed the deeper and more in despair I began to feel until I stopped it. I smiled. I got out of bed and put some water on for tea and began some morning stretches. I then sipped my tea and read some positive inspirational thoughts for the day. And then I did some chanting and said a few silent prayers setting my intentions for this day.
I also realized recently that chanting, meditation, yoga and exercise is like brushing our teeth. If we don't brush and floss our teeth will rot. If we don't exercise our bodies will rot. If we don't fill our mind with healthy material our minds become our worst enemies. If we don't have some spiritual practice our lives will rot just like our teeth. We cannot separate, body, mind, and spirit; people who exercise often also have a spiritual practice and choose to eat healthy foods (a whole other subject). And when we let one healthy practice fall away, the others begin to disappear from our lives like good friends who can't stay around to see the destruction we are creating.
That being said, everyday is an opportunity to transform, to forget the past, and create the best day possible. And with practice we can build on this skill to create more and more for our lives of the things that we desire rather than swimming in the pool of things that we feel we have to accept.
We can choose to accept only good thoughts and loving people in our lives. We do not have to be the slaves of our ego minds or the demons of jealousy or fear (which is the root of all ego based thoughts.) We can choose productive, supportive, healthy, wise thoughts that nurture our body mind and souls and fertilize our lives with the desired seeds of the enlightened souls we truly are.
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