Personal Meditation no. 206

“Your beliefs are your actions. What you say is just what you think.”

Embrace the Within.

It was quite the hot weekend and a lot of my time was spent avoiding the heat. That meant getting most of my work done prior to 9 am. And that is exactly how I want it to be. I am made for early mornings of working and getting things in order. As the day goes longer, I find my ambition and energy and attention is not into getting things accomplished. Most of my initiative comes right out of the gate.

Now that is not the attitude of the remainder of folks in my house. They are all on the opposite schedule which makes life a challenge at times. When folks want to ask me math questions at 9 pm or have a conversation about anything more than the day ahead, it takes a lot for me to get excited and focused on that task. BUT I do my best to accommodate them with those situations.

What works for me does not work for them. And becoming accepting of people thinking and acting differently from you is, hopefully, a part of maturing and aging. BUT I am seeing more and more folks that are not inclusive in their actions despite the words they speak. And those actions go across all ideologies, all religions, all politics, all people. And as a Christian, a libertarian, a voluntaryist, and a white dude, I get a lot of the backlash for the ways other folks in those communities have acted to other folks. I get lumped in with every Sunday lunch, judgmental, neckbeard, argumentative, chauvinist, racist, and any other derogatory superlative for those folks other people have encountered in their life. And there are a lot of those folks in the past, present, and future whose poor choices I get to shoulder as well. And that is alright because that is the life I chose to live. I cannot change the actions of others. I can only change my own actions.

I can get angry at all those people that make it difficult to live my message more effectively. I can think about all the problems their actions caused myself and others. OR I can accept the world as it is. Amor fati. And move forward with my life in spite, despite their actions and do the best I can. And I think that is sort of what God wants me to do.

I wasn’t created to suck at life. I wasn’t created to fight anyone else’s battles. I wasn’t created to make anyone do or think anything. I was created to live this life joyfully, abundantly, and peacefully in service to God. And that is what I am going to do.

Sometimes that means taking hits that weren’t your doing. Sometimes that means paying for the actions of other folks. Sometimes that means the road is not going to be easy. BUT, that is the path I signed up to walk. And that is the path I am going to continue to walk. And that is a place I do not ever have to walk alone.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin

Personal Meditation no. 205

“Life is full of challenges that should bring you joy.”

Embrace the Within.

I had a lot of peace yesterday that sets me looking into the future of my retirement life is going to entail. And I have to admit that those moments yesterday of looking at my fruit trees in the front yard, those moments of walking around the garden and moving things around, really brought me a peace and a joy.

There are always folks looking to try and steal your joy, though. And you can easily let them take that joy away from you. All it takes is a few comments on social media or a news bulletin or the price of gas to attempt to shatter your peace. Peace is extremely valuable and folks that do not have peace are quick to try and remove it from others. Folks will say and act in any manner of ways to try and break your peace. I had one of those encounters yesterday and I like to think I weathered that storm rather well.

I came through that situation not stooping to name-calling, not trying to force them to see I was right, and not trying to win. And fourteen days ago that was all I was ever about. I needed to be right all the time. I needed to win all the time. And if you disagreed with what I was saying then I am quite positive I would tell you how much of an idiot you were. BUT no longer. I leave the problems of the world with the world. I am no longer here to solve anyone’s problems other than my own. And that knowledge, in spite of the name-calling, bullying, violence, and destruction that surrounds me, brings me joy.

It brings me joy because even though the retirement future I envision looks great and abundant and joyful, I am not married to that idea ever comparing to the eternal. And I get a lot of joy here on earth working on making my life simpler and growing things that make me smile BUT they do not compare to the eternal joy. I could spend my time worrying about the state of the world, worrying about how people treat each other, worrying about why people choose violence, OR I could be consumed with making my life peaceful, loving, and kind. And that is a wisdom I did not possess fourteen days ago.

Fourteen days ago I would be down the trenches and the mud getting dirty with everyone else and getting this earth all over me. BUT that is not where I am supposed to be. I am not to get all concerned that others don’t think like me. I am not to be concerned with forcing folks to change. Because that never works. I can only live an example of how life can be if you choose to look somewhere other than the temporal world for a solution.

I hope you spend your day in joy and peace and abundance whether you want that for me or not. My choices are not dictated by the actions of the world. I am not walking through life simply reacting to the next narrative of the news cycle. I am not worried about the next new disaster they have lined up down the road. This world is only temporary. I am only here for a little while. And I get to choose how I spend that time. And so do you. What is your choice?

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin