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| PC: Aaron Springston |
ACIM Workbook Lesson #338 "I am affected only by my thoughts."
It is estimated that we have more than 50,000 thoughts every day. As I heard Wayne Dyer tell us in one of his outstanding talks, the problem with this is that the thousands of thoughts we have today are the same ones we had yesterday! Waking up from the circular thinking in which we are trapped requires an honesty we’re not accustomed to practicing. I know habitual thought is not an easy habit to break, but the desire to do so is the first step. Just like changing any behavior, you have to want to change or you never will. How can we begin to think differently? We can’t simply stop thinking, but we can exchange the trivial musings for substantial ideas. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” As I go through this day, I’ll often ask myself: What would Eleanor think? Namastè, each and every One!
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.” Science & Health Page 299:1-11
I like this... but then you go outside and you interact with people who mainly discuss people (as opposed to events or ideas). Maybe they are family members who do this. What then, I ask myself. This question is relevant to my life right now. And my current best answer to dealing with this is that when they talk I choose not to judge them. Let me elaborate: I kind of go into mindfulness meditation where I listen to their words but don't attach to them, and I don't feed their conversation - I just acknowledge and let go. What else can you do but accept them as is right at this moment and thereby accept yourself.
ReplyDeleteI agree, J! I've often said it would be very easy to practice this teaching if I lived alone on a mountaintop, but step outside and -- ha! It took me years to stop reacting to these words from others, but the realization that we're all doing the best we can (without judging, for sure!), and also I tend to say something like "you may be right about that", and the wander away. People think I'm addlepated, but so what? haha!
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