Six Strategies That
Change Everything, or:
What To Do While You’re Waiting for Peace
by
Graham Maxey
Most
of the time we run our lives on some fairly simple ideas. This is good because life takes a lot
of energy and we don’t have a lot left over to be wrestling with complicated
notions of how we are supposed to do things. (This is why instruction booklets are universally hated and
seldom read.) No one that I know
has time to figure out Kantian ethics on a Monday morning, over even dimly
recall the words “categorical imperative.” So much for the examined life, but then
Socrates never had to commute.
I heard the most marvelous set of personal
interventions the other day that I think work, precisely because they are so
simple, and because they don’t require much attention to put into
practice. Plus, they are the
anitdotes for some of the biggest meanies our consciousness can create: fear,
guilt, anger, self-absorption, self-importance, and, the quest for the world to
treat me fair every single minute of every single day. These things lead to even more
complications of living, like: obsession with death, chronic feelings of
worthlessness, rage, cynicism, and taking life so seriously you have to develop
a neurosis just to have something big enough to carry it in.
One
real nice thing about these ideas is: you’re getting them for free! And if
you try them and then think they really stink, you get your money back.
Here’s
the deal. There are six of
these. Pick 1, 3, 5 or 2, 4, 6 or
1, 2, 4 or any other combo of three you like for the first day. On the second day pick the rest. Do two things during the day that best
express each of the ideas you picked for that day. That’s all there is to it. Ready? Here you
go:
1. Look at your life as if
it were your mate. Be interested in it, even when it’s in
“one of its moods.” Be
happy in its presence. Be patient
with it. Simply enjoy and love
it. Don’t forget, however,
that it’s not you. You are
only with it until “death do you part.”
2. Regard your body as a
friend. Be there for it.
Do nice things for it when you can. But, don’t let it dominate your life. Share the good times as well as the
bad. Have activities in
common. But, keep good boundaries
with it. Spend time alone form it;
that will enhance your relationship.
3. None of the problems of
your life are your “fault.”
There is no cunning way to escape
that which seems unpleasant of even terrible. This happens to everyone. You don’t “deserve” your fate, no matter
its quality. But, you are safe
whatever happens. Accept it with
wonder, and if you have gratitude as well, make sure it’s for both the
“good” and the “bad.”
4. Other people are not
there for you to control. They are just other flavors of the same consciousness
you are. They are learning the
same lessons you are asked to learn, just in different ways. Don’t let your individuality fool
you that they would all be better off if you could just do it for them, or if
they would just do it your way.
5. Expectations are just
bubbles in the water. They don’t have anything to do with reality in
any way. There is no reason to
expect “justice” or even “fairness.” Making demands that your environment,
or God, or others meet certain specifications is illogical at best, and most
often destructive of any peacefulness you might otherwise have. Just be in the moment as it is, then be
in the next one.
6. Play like what you are
doing or whom you are loving is THE most important thing ever. Remember
the operative word here is “play.” Devotion to someone or something is a way of seeing through
the here and now to see the All.
Give yourself to it with abandon, all the while knowing that it is not
the thing or the person that is important, but the act of giving importance
that is important. In a way,
that’s exactly what it’s like to be God (who is exactly who you
are, anyway.)
That’s
all there is to it. Simple enough
for a Monday morning. You
don’t have to sign up for life.
See what you think after two weeks. You don’t have to believe; entertain possibilities
instead.
