Today, I remembered...
I'm OK with it.
Want to hear something cool? In the book "Zen Commandments"
(my favorite book ever, by the way), Dean Sluyter suggests "OK"
stands for Openness and Kindness. I love that!
As I was writing this, I remembered Dean's definition, which makes
this lesson even better.
Yesterday, I was tired, achy and cranky. Not all day, but these feelings
recurred enough that by the end of the day I was having some pretty
negative thoughts about the people around me. I fell into the "they're
making me _____ (mad, upset, crazy, whatever)" trap. I finally wised up
and just went to bed rather than participate in this silly dance any more.
Today, being a new shiny day, started differently. I was my usual happy
self going about my business. I thought about how I'd felt yesterday and
heard internally "I'm OK with it". "I'm OK with it" is my new favorite credo.
I'm OK with thinking negative thoughts and just letting them breeze on
out of my consciousness. I'm OK with financial glitches, people acting
foolish and me not getting my way. I'm OK with the the world and what's
going on in it (though this doesn't mean I don't work to improve it).
I'm OK (open and kind, remember?) with all of it!
As long as we don't metaphorically run our canoe up on the bank or
stick our oar down in the muck to stop our forward motion, we just
float along the continuous river of life, watching the fascinating
change of scenery. And if we do get stuck, let's be OK with it until
we get back in the lifestream.
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