I just got schooled by the world.
Met with a person I believed to be an idiot.
Turned out, they were one of the smartest people in my circles, held in high regard by other people I know and respect, and hold in high regard as well.
Oops.
Then, I remember all the statements mom used to tell me, but really didn’t practice all the time.
Because they were too hard.
What are some statements to general, so tossed and oft used out there, but work wonders for us and our lives, when done and followed?
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover
I judged hard, and paid the price, in missed opportunities, lost energy, time, and stress.
When I judge, and in some way, think myself better than other people, what I’m really doing, is closing myself off from other people, and not opening myself up.
Not to mention feeling like a jackass.
Not open to possibilities. To surprises. To being delighted by this wild and crazy generous world of ours.
People aren’t what they initially seem.
But we’ve been hardwired by our upbringing, our preference for visual stimulation and input, as well as what media and society tells us.
We want nice packaging, and go to great lengths to impress others and be seen as something prestigious, excellent, unique, or better than the rest.
At the cost of openness, appreciation, valuing differences, and acceptance.
Because they’re different, and because I don’t see what I want to see, I shun them. I judge them and attach value judgements to their person, to their actions and words.
So even if they approach me with the best of intentions and love, I still walk away from them, and reject them.
And the same thing happens to me, from other people.
Judgements, without even an effort to understand, creates walls between people.
Forgive and forget
We all know this would be a great thing to do.
But I don’t do it. Not necessarily all the time.
As Alexander Pope once put it: To err is human, to forgive, divine.
Because it takes inspiration, and grace, to truly forgive, and to forget.
When someone does damage to me, physical, or emotional, my instinct is to fight back. To take revenge, and appease the anger in me. Rage, sadness, and all of the guilt and lingering effects that come after the fact.
Or I let it build up, welling inside, burning me up. I sit quietly, letting my resentment, frustration, and anger build up, until such a point, that I cannot contain it anymore.
It’s such a vicious feeling. One that I’ve indulged in far too often, and for far too long. Letting the anger control me, and make its way into my heart. Making it harder to let go.
All the while, weighing me down, and making each day heavier and harder that what it’s supposed to be.
To forgive and forget, is to learn how to let go.
And to be free.
An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure
I never thought this was true, until the time that I did indeed get sick, and then started beating myself up over it.
Because I could’ve easily prevented it.
Of which of course, was nowhere on my mind, until my back, my body, and my life started to fall in shambles.
Easily preventable. Difficult to cure. I might be caring and keeping my back in check for the rest of my life.
Classic case of “you don’t know what you’ve got, ’til it’s gone.”
Even just little steps, would work to prevent that which we do not want, or fear.
The key is consistency.
You’re building habits of prevention.
It’s the simplest things said, that are hard to do
Don’t let that simplicity fool you. They can be very hard to do, but, at the end of the day, it’s all up to us.
Do we think, see them as possible?
Why do we complicate life?
Things are just the way they are. It’s your interpretation that will inform your experience.
What’s one thing you can simplify, in your life?
What’s stopping you?
What would work wonders for you, if you could do this action everyday? Please share in the comments below!
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