If I Only Had One Moment in Time to Give a Message, this is what I would say~
Every good and bad thing that has been done to you is ONLY because the person who did it thought it would give him/her something they believe they needed.Be it power, satisfaction, value, respect, revenge, love… whatever it is, they believe they will get “something” from their behavior. That’s true for every single being on the planet, including you and me. There are some things that can suppress someone’s behavior or desire to do something they want to. A stronger “over ride” exists, like a belief in religious rules i.e. don’t kill or steal or commit adultery. They may have fear of the law or going to jail. Regardless, please know that everyone behaves from their own beliefs and choices. It’s ultimately NOT your fault.
Your behavior is YOUR choice. Their behavior is/was their choice. You can’t control what happens to you all the time in life. Sometimes bad things will happen to you and to all of us. It is no reflection on you if you are born into terrible circumstances. It is the lottery of life. We can debate forever on God’s will or karma or fate, but, in the end, we will have no answer. Yet reality will remain what it is. So the debate is mute. You can feel sorry for yourself and remain a victim for your whole life. You can seek revenge and be a perpetrator. You can think the world owes you something and spend your life like a glutton. It is all within your own creation, you see. You hold the power of your life’s creation. You CAN ALWAYS control how you react and respond to what happens to you. The STORY you make up about what’s happened to you will drive your behavior. How you behave will change you. It will change what you like and don’t like, what friends you make, what you do in life, what becomes acceptable or not acceptable. It will totally create a life to match what you THINK about life. If you think life must be the way you grew up, you will think it, believe it, and make choices to support that belief. You will totally create a life like the one you grew up in, OR, not. It’s your choice.
I want you to think about your body like a smart phone. Think of it as a science fiction robot that is organic. It has programming to keep it healthy, but it needs the right “juice” to do so. Call it electricity or software or food/water/sleep/exercise. Otherwise, “bugs” can invade your body. Call them cancer, heart disease, etc. So this robotic, organic body is programmed to survive, to be healthy, to fight disease, to reach its full capacity of its own effectiveness. The potential is hard-wired but its capability is based on software, based on getting it what it needs. Give it less and, without spyware, it is vulnerable. Give it all it needs, and it will be equipped to meet its full potential. To us this means proper rest, clean food in proper balance, water, sleep, exercise, sunshine. This is for the body.
The mind is amazing. Have you tried to text a word, and your phone thinks it knows what you want to type, guessing based on the words you’ve used frequently in the past?
Your mind tries to assess situations based on the past; based on who you were in the past, the limited wisdom/experience/perspective of the past. And frankly, the reality of a child is a poor assessor of the reality of NOW. Without properly upgrading new software and deleting outdated programs, we are adrift at sea without a working compass to guide us. The mate that broke your heart drove a sky blue truck, and every time you see a sky blue truck, you have a thought. Your mind uploads old data that is simply untrue for the current reality, and your mind pulls the lever. You feel the old pain all over again, as if then was now. That is just one memory! Without proper data management, there can be billions of memories and emotional responses. How can you ever be present in the reality of now with all that reactive data overwhelming your data base? I believe our Soul lives in this body/mind organic suit like a turtle in a shell. Is the turtle the shell, or is the turtle living in the shell? Take the land crab. As the land crab grows, it must leave its small shell and move into a larger one. If it believed it WAS its shell, it would die in the small shell and never reach its potential. It is that way with living in our body/mind. If we believe our mind, we surely can never be ALL we can be.
The way to keep our computer running at its best is to be aware of the programs running in the background, slowing it down. Be aware of the “viruses”. Knowing what e-mails to open and which ones are “spam” or questionable is key. After a while, with experience comes wisdom. Certain tell-tale signs will warn you of danger. It is the same with the mind. I will tell you of these signs, but first I must begin with the basic foundation.
You are the one watching and listening to your thoughts. If you WERE your thoughts, you would be unable to witness them. Since you do witness them, you can know, for certain, that you are not your thoughts. Getting better at detaching from the emotion and the quick-trigger emotional responses from the thought evoked emotion, is a skill. Since it is a skill, it is learnable. You can learn this skill. As you learn to hover apart from your mind and watch as you, for example, see a sky blue truck, you can witness your thoughts and feel the feelings, but, from this detached perspective, you can choose an overriding thought. You can question your mind and ask, “Is this pain I feel, when I see a sky blue truck, real for me NOW?” It’s as simple as that! To debug your organic brain, all you have to do is to notice when you have a strong emotion (the bug indicator) and ask yourself where this emotion originally came from. Allow yourself to release the pain from that event. Then ask if it’s true that today’s sky blue truck equals heart break now. Question your organic mind’s beliefs! Ask IS IT TRUE? Then ask, how do I behave TODAY when I believe yesterday’s story? That’s all it takes to eliminate the “viruses” and old programming and keep your mind effective and running healthy and efficiently today.
So here you are right now. You’re taking care of your body well. You are a witness to your own thinking, and you let go of old wounds as they come up…known by their tell-tale sign of strong emotions. You’re letting the old stuff go and choosing how you are going to react to what happens in life by the guiding light of who you want to be in life: a victim, a martyr, an abuser, or a healthy, authentic, and loving Soul. Now… how shall you discover your purpose?
Have you watched people on the beach with a metal detector wand, scanning the sand for treasure with ear phones on their head to listen for a growing sound that indicates a prize within inches of the wand head? We have the same clear signal within our own being… JOY! There are things in life; people, music, places, food that refuels us! We are enlivened by them! Time goes by in an instant while doing the things we love. Hours go by, and it seems like minutes! Have you met people who are “energy vampires”? You feel drained just being around them? The desires of a healthy, bug-free heart and mind is our neon sign! GO THIS WAY! There are people who LOVE detail and some who despise it. There are people best suited to climb mountains and others behind a desk. There is no better than or less than! The farmer and the scientist; the doctor and the wood worker; the artist and the pilot … all equal. In order to discover your purpose, you must first follow your passions. How will you know if you don’t try things that interest you? Live life! Try new thing. See what fills you with joy! See what drains you. They are both road signs for you to follow towards your personal destiny.
There is an Egyptian saying… When you die you are met at golden gates and asked two questions:
In this life did you find your joy?
Did you share your joy with others?
You are alive. You were born into whatever situation you were born into. People loved you, hurt you, and maybe some really bad things happened. It’s not personal. They did what they did for the reasons I explained above. Hanging on to old wounds is like drinking a slow poison and waiting for the other person to suffer. Let it go. Your life need not be defined by your past or your current circumstances. You are free to choose. You have a body, and must give it what it needs so that it can take care of you. You have a mind, and it can become your master, if you let it; so don’t. Learn the skills to detach and be the Captain of your own ship. Keep your mind/computer clean from old programs and “viruses” by letting old wounds go, as they reveal themselves. Emotional boo-boos are like splinters. Your body will push them out of your skin, in time. Your emotions will let you know, when you’re ready. Don’t worry. Nothing will come up that you can’t handle. The pain will pass. I promise. Follow your joy as you create a good life for yourself. You have your own gifts to give to this world, and you will enjoy sharing what you love to do. Life happens – good and bad. It’s not personal. How you respond to it will determine the happiness of your life. Learn to grow a deep appreciation for what money cannot buy, and you will be delighted endlessly. Willows in the wind… Loons echoing across the lake… Children playing… Puppy kisses… Old people telling stories… The smell of roses… The mystery of bees. Be amazed and in awe of sunsets and sun rises…snowflakes and low tide. Give back to the world where your heart cries. That’s how you know where to give; the “cause” that makes you cry.
This would be my message.
Love, Catherine