Rainbows in the Darkness

Libra Daily Horoscope from Daily Om today. I needed that.

( Supporting The Self )

This seems to be a problem with a lot of people; I don't know if it is independence, pride or plain out cussedness but a lot of us are hard headed and don't listen to other people when they give us the hard earned examples of their experience, but instead plow right on in and sink up to our necks in the same morass. It's not a very bright way to learn.

My Women's Meditation for today talks about this, and it's relevant to me because I am finding this is not just a problem of youth, it can be a persistent and lifelong problem. We're a sandwich generation, Mani and I, with stubborn parents, stubborn siblings and stubborn children. Learning to share what we've learned in such a way that it is not preachy or makes out like we feel superior is difficult. Most people like to think that everything they do is their own idea, and it takes some finesse to present things to people so that it turns out to be their decision and not yours. If people feel manipulated, even a little, they resent the person who is trying to help them... it doesn't matter how altruistic the help is.

That is what I have learned from trying to offer others the benefit of my experience ;-)

What I have learned from ignoring the mistakes of others could fill up several volumes of life experience. In other words, I've wasted a lot of time and energy having to "do it myself". I put my own limitations in this department on the doorstep of Pride, which we all know is the deadliest sin ;-p I like to think I know better than anyone else. That is both foolhardy and wrongheaded. I know I'm not alone in that tendency, though. It's just something I need to work on, my issues with authority, with humility, with staying in beginner's mind and accepting that yes, sometimes other people are not just smarter than me, but have had different life experiences that can enhance mine through listening to and internalizing the lessons they won the hard way.

Affirmation for today... I am willing to learn from the mistakes made by others.

I accept that the experiences of others can be my teachers.

I am open to learning with ease.

I put these together for someone and I realized I could use them, as well. So I'm posting them... maybe they will be useful for someone else today, too.

Daily Om, as always, appropriate for me. Get your Vitamin Z's!

( The Importance Of Sleep )

Forgive

As I forgive, I move on in life, creating new memories of happiness and peace.
One of the most difficult things I may ever be asked to do is to forgive someone who I feel has treated me unfairly or unkindly. Yet I also know that if I continue to think about the apparent injustice, the anguish I feel will continue, and even increase, in intensity.
Releasing all resentment and anger over the past, I am able to forgive. Through forgiveness, I free myself of reliving the past through painful memories. Thank God, I then can move on in my life and create new memories of happiness and peace.
Each act of forgiveness inspires a healing response within me that relieves me of stress. Forgiveness sets me free to live more fully in each moment, to experience the joy of life that God intended for me.

"Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ."
--2 Corinthians 2:10

~~~
And so it keeps coming back to Forgiveness. Forgiveness is for giving me freedom. Freedom from attachments I might have to my pet resentments, my feelings that I must be loved in order to be worthy. My perfectionism, my lack of tolerance for imperfections in others. My need for closure and apology, when those things are not necessary to the process of Forgiveness on a personal level, and might never come. These needs are blocks to my Freedom, and I must let them go. If they come, then, they will be less vital to me, and I will have less a tendency to focus on them or feel triumph over them.

Life is not a war. Nobody wins, nobody loses. It comes out the same for everyone, birth, life and death, some longer, some shorter, but all made from the same pattern.

Memories and experiences are universal; what in my perception is dramatic and life threatening might be very low on someone else's scale, and vice versa. We judge one anothers' dramas based on our own filters, and that is wrong-headed and narrow minded. Each person has their own tasks to perform, their own life to fit and wear, and at base essence it is none of our business to be their tailors, though we can provide a space and share our tools. We can be open, in other words. Being open is necessary to keep receiving, to keep experiencing.

Filtering, discarding and releasing the things that are not wholesome or life improving for us on a personal level is the style of Freedom through Forgiveness. It is flexible and yet firm, transparent yet only selectively penetrable.

Today's Daily Om is a gentle cuff against the head by a mother bear to her cub for me. When it is time to lie down and be still, then lie down and be still.

We have this Siamese youngster, Koji, who is so full of life and energy that he overflows with it, disturbing the peace, as it were. He gets overstimulated and just slap crazy, running around, jumping, wild. Often he will sneak attack the older cats, or he'll approach them with offers of grooming and then get carried away and start wrestling and chewing on them. He is hardheaded. Sometimes, he gets a "time out" in the carrier. He will sit there and moan for a few minutes, every muscle tight as a lute string, clawing at the netting, and then he will stop, relax, and lie down. When he is quiet, we know he has regained some control of himself and can come out again and be social.

What are we learning from this? I think we are learning that sometimes when we are overwhelmed we just need to step away and regroup. I think that when we are not doing that for ourselves, the universe does it for us... we may want to keep dancing until we fall down, but eventually the band has to take a break (and our feet do, too). I am going to try to be less critical of where I am right now and look forward to some things I have planned for myself, including the Barbara Brennan reading group, a Charlaine Harris reading group, and perhaps water aerobics at the college this fall if we can afford it. Some of our crises have passed, and we are grateful for that. Things will get better, even if in the moment I am unsure what is over the horizon.

I just have to keep breathing, and if I can't keep dancing, then at least lie down and be still.

( Spiritual Plateaus )

Today's Daily Om... on critical mass and the place where everything changes. It is this place that we all contribute to with our individual efforts. This is where we make the biggest difference on the widest range of social, ethical and economic issues.

( The Tipping Point )

A New Start

Today I make a new start in life.

Today is a new day of promise. I accept it, give thanks for it, and act on the God-given opportunities I am offered.
Yesterday is gone, and with it all that challenged me has receded into nothingness. My trust in God takes wings as I explore a day that is filled with wonder. I am confident that whatever I decide to do will bless me and bless others through me.
God is giving me yet another chance to start anew on a goal, job, relationship of longstanding or one that is just beginning to take shape. Thanks to God, this day offers me even more love, life, and understanding than I have ever before known.

"He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth."--Genesis 8:10-11