I’ve often said that we chose the things that bother us and those that don’t. It is so funny that we will waste time getting angry about being 5 minutes late and blame innocent drivers in front of us. To the point of getting red-faced and cursing their mother. Just look in your view mirror, and you will probably see the driver behind doing it to you. Just like the “C” I got in High School English that nobody cared about, no one is going to remember you being 5 minutes late for anything. Or care. And when I was near death in the hospital years ago, no one talked to me about being late or my grades, as they chose to worry about the big picture. How was I going to survive this and would I ever have a brain left?
If I only had a brain! Just their choice to focus on me getting better gave me the life force to accomplish the impossible. I picked up the pieces and ran with it. So, go ahead and chose something with some meaning like helping others instead of focusing on the things we can’t really change. When I started examining myself, I was amazed how easy it is to be bothered by small unchangeable stuff. It is not all gone, but I am working on it in almost every instance. I am happy with who I am and the wisdom I have. And the wisdom I can work to obtain. Happy Holidays!
There are quite a few things in life I have encountered where I
definitely had no choice in. These include being gay, my brain injury, being
numb on half my body, my successes in work and failures in life or even the parents I have. But give me a choice between
that which occurred, and the potentials that are out there, I think nature is
right on track with what I need to experience to access some of the wisdom that
I so desire. I feel pretty lucky
that I wasn’t given my choices before they happened, because I used to imagine a
stroke as the worst thing that could ever happen to me. Well, I've had two strokes
at the same time, and still have the ability or not to make foolish choices. Off for another 10-day Vipassana,
here in Thailand to further unravel the self and fully arrive here in this
humidity.
