Looking Out My Back Window #45

Originally posted on Facebook HERE

Looks like another nice day in WI. We live right on the Horicon marsh, near the wildlife preserve. It’s an awesome area, trees, trails, wildlife. We love it here. Sunny day. I have a decent job that I like. A family, lots of “stuff”, no real wants or needs. Excited to get the book out ASAP. Maybe even get the Twistin’ Egyptians recording from 1987 released to the public this year as well. Plenty going on. Some great vacations coming up. And yet, there are still days I wake up sad, tense and/or angry. Because none of that stuff means anything. What you do, or achieve, or own – doesn’t make you happy. Once you achieve something, there’s always the next challenge, once you buy something, there’s always the next purchase… and as you strive to achieve, and desire what you don’t already possess… it creates tension and unease in your life. The mind is great at this. I’ve talked before about what were issued at birth: a vehicle (the body) and a supercomputer housed within the vehicle (the mind). They are interconnected. Who we are (the soul) is also inside the vehicle, we have the ability to control it all. Yet, most of us don’t use that ability, instead setting the supercomputer to “autopilot” and just watching what happens from there. The mind works like a computer, it can only use the information it’s been fed. So, if it’s been fed faulty information, like: “l need to get that promotion to be happy” or “once we get that house in the country we’ll be happy” or “I suck at everything I do” or “nothing ever works out for me” – this is what it will work on. This is what you will see in your life. You’ve programmed yourself for unhappiness and let the faulty programming determine your present moments. We all do this. I do this. We just do it at different levels. What we maybe don’t realize, or even if we do realize it we don’t do enough of – is that the only way we can lead a happier, more fulfilling life is to get in touch with the person driving the vehicle, our souls. That is the part in touch with God as we know Him. That is the part that knows unconditional love. When we get in contact with that part of ourselves, is God ever having a bad day? Do you ever seek Him only to find him angry and tense? If, so, that might not be God at all. God is calm. God is love, a love unlike any love our minds can create or understand. The first step to letting this part of us – the part that watches the other two and really can control them if sought – control our lives, is to catch ourselves. Start with small aggravations, catch yourself when you’re cut off driving and start to get angry – who’s angry? Return to the calm. If you seek to know this part of yourself, it will begin to change the programming in the computer and you’ll see the effect it will have on your life over time. Because once the computer gets programming that says “I am love” or “I have everything I need to be happy” or “everything always works out great for me”, the things you look at will start to change to meet the new parameters. It’s not instantaneous, though. You have to work at it. In order to do that, it has to be a priority in your life. Is it? I know, for myself, this is always an issue. I know what I should be doing, yet I don’t do it. So I beat myself up for not doing the things I know will bring me more happiness, thereby exacerbating whatever sorrow, tension and anxiety I’m already feeling by giving my mind too much control over my life. I can say that I’m getting better at catching myself now, though. But I saw during the three weeks I was in Florida what a difference reading, meditating, running, and yoga meant for my peace of mind. One week back: meditated once. Ran once. No yoga. Limited reading at best. Work tension creeping back in. And today, for the first time in a long time, I woke up feeling “meh”. I blame myself. I know the cure. We all do. Working it into our lives can take some fancy finagling, though. When we make priority one priority twenty-three in our lives, why are we surprised at the outcome?