November 14--Who Can You Trust?

Whoever is careless with truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.  --Albert Einstein

    Have you ever had that feeling that someone was not quite telling you the truth? [I giggled to myself after I wrote that--we had a POTUS who did it hourly!!! No wonder so many of us were terrified for four years!]

    If you have raised one or more children, chances are good that a major lesson you taught was that lying is not a good practice. 

    Back to my first line above. I believe we intuitively know ("gut feel") when someone is being "careless with truth," either by exaggeration or lying. One source of common trauma I have seen in many friends is that during childhood, they witnessed ongoing things in the home yet were told that things were not as they were seeing and feeling them. That disconnect leads to mistrust of oneself and others, just as Einstein states. I experienced that, and it took me years of work to be able to trust anyone, even a little. Going with "a bad example can be a good thing," it led me to value reliability as the supreme character trait in myself and others.

    Integrity rocks,

        Leta

November 13--No Chocolate, No, No, No

Crave for a thing, you will get it. Renounce the craving, the object will follow you by itself.  --Swami Sivananda

    Have you ever tried to talk yourself out of a desire for chocolate or ice cream or bacon? "Renounce the craving" and everything in the universe looks like the craved item. I have vast personal experience with this one. 

    I LOVE carrot cake. (Actually, I'll admit I love the cream cheese frosting more than the cake, but it's more acceptable with the delivery system of the cake.) However, I don't keep it around, because that's all I would eat. So I treat myself, once a year around my birthday, to one piece of carrot cake from a local favorite restaurant. That's enough. It's a goofy system, but it keeps the carrot cake from following me around. 😉😉

    Deprivation is not a good plan,

        Leta

November 12--Personal Power Platform

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.  --Alice Walker

    Thinking IS our power. Everything is created first in thought. We give up our power by thinking we don't have control over our thoughts. We certainly do, though it is not necessarily easy. If we have been subject to a long-term atmosphere of trauma or criticism, it is tough to believe we have the power to change anything for the better. We tend to make up stories about "whodunit" to us, what they did, and how we have suffered, and we repeat those stories to whoever will listen. Holding onto those stories is an act of giving up one's power. 

    The 12-Step programs have an interesting take on power. The first step is admitting one is powerless over the substance of choice. The second and third steps involve recognizing that there is something greater that can empower the addict, and turning over the substance and his/her life to that power. Powerlessness truly leads to a higher power that works. 

    Developing and maintaining one's personal sense of power is an ongoing practice requiring daily attention. I'm really struggling with this idea right now, being in a repeating pattern that I feel powerless to change. Woohoo--yet another growth opportunity! 

        Leta

The fall colors of Pennsylvania, my home state

November 11--Lighten Up

It is easy to be heavy; it is hard to be light.  --G. K. Chesterton

    It is especially easy to be heavy if we get caught up in all the ugliness of our world nowadays. It takes effort to move one's focus from that to all the good, to lighten up. Here's an amusing take on the quote--it's easy for gravity to keep us on the planet, but it is hard for us to levitate. 

    It has been a heavy couple of days for me, so to lighten things up, I bought a "cake" of brightly colored yarn, and I'm making myself useful with a crochet hook. Repeating the pattern as I stitch takes my mind off "heavy." It's a meditation of sorts. 

    Heavy is outside us; light shines forth from within. Let's shine. 

        Leta

My "light" project(s)

November 10--Infinite Reservoir of Good

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.  --Bertolt Brecht

    Let's get past the idea that we are here to be tested and suffer. That is a misleading proposition supported by assorted religions, designed to control the masses. We are here to experience joy, expansion and freedom (Abraham-Hicks). With that as our goal, happiness is right here (at our heels), within us. Being our natural unique selves, using our talents (we all have them), brings forth the happiness from inside. We are tapping into the infinite reservoir of good from whence we came and which supports us throughout eternity. 

    Leta

November 9--Don't Grieve??

Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.  --Rumi

    Rumi had a really-big-picture perspective on this one. Life goes on, and things go and come in other forms, even loved ones, I believe. Rumi was encouraging non-attachment, easier said than done. 

    Don't grieve. I have some difficulty with that suggestion. Sadness and grief are natural human emotions, and if we don't feel them and let them pass, that energy gets stuck in our bodies to our long-term detriment. "Easy come, easy go" could certainly make for a carefree life, but I don't think it's that easy. We get attached to people, lifestyles, places, things--granted, sometimes too attached--but that's part of life on this planet. Grief is a very personal emotion, both in intensity and duration. We cannot tell someone how to grieve. Grief inspires compassion, and that is something that is very much needed in our world today.

    OK with grief,

        Leta

Colorado sunrise by D. Hardin

November 8--Boredom is Motivating

Perhaps the world's second-worst crime is boredom; the first is being a bore. 
--Cecil Beaton

    I am a fairly easy-going person. I generally go with live-and-let-live, and most folks don't bother me. There are, however, a couple folks whom, due to past experience, I would rather not encounter for the remainder of my life. I was in the same room as one of them this past Saturday night, and I was able to avoid the person. Pondering this, I realize that both of these people fit my "bore" category perfectly. 

    I know that I am guilty of this one on occasion--the "organ recital." That is giving a detailed list of one's medical issues, doctor appointments and aches. The women's locker room at the YMCA is the place to get a hefty dose of that. I'll admit that is oddly motivating--it keeps me exercising, and I don't want to be a bore giving anyone my list!

    And yes, I am prone to boredom, mostly seasonal. About this time of year, when baseball ends, before basketball is in full swing, as golf and gardening seasons wind down, I get bored until I adjust. Boredom doesn't feel good, so I don't hang there for long. 

    Have an interesting week!

        Leta