Almost every belief I cherish today, I scoffed at before becoming committed to a 12 step fellowship. I didn’t believe in God. I thought that if you gave something away, it was gone forever. I was sure that hanging on to resentments was both normal and protective; and in fact, others deserved my negative thoughts, judgments and responses to them. Why would they ever change if I didn’t point out the ways in which they should change.
Yikes. What an unkind, uncompromising woman I was. I’m so glad I’m not her any more, but, and it’s a big but, I can reclaim her behavior on a moment’s notice. And have in fact recently done so. What makes us surrender to the ego’s suggestions is our unwillingness to listen, ever more intently, to the softer approach to life that we get when we allow the God of our understanding to be in charge. All it takes is a decision, a small one in fact. The results of that change of mind are astonishingly quick and the ripple effect touches all of humanity, in time. Every action or thought we have, touches everyone. We must be vigilant about this choice.
The good news for those of us who have come to recognize the softer, kinder voice that lies within us is the level of peace that comes to us when we let it take charge. Immediately. Immediately. It’s such a quiet decision that others won’t even know we have made it until they observe or even feel our changed demeanor. We will sense it, however, and we will want repeated exposure to this state of mind and overall awareness of well being.
Since being exposed to this “other way of seeing and living,” nothing about our old way of living actually and convincingly appeals to us, and yet, on occasion, we can and do slip back into her or him so subtly and so efficiently that our companions are thrown off track. We are too. That’s the really bad news. But there are affirmations that can keep us on track. (Or bring us back.) Consider these:
1. I will remember for this one day that everyone crossing my path was sent to teach me something.
2. There are no accidental visitors on my journey.
3. I will choose peace over needing to be right today.
4. For this one day I will do no harm.
5. For this one day I will pray for every one in front of me at the store, the post office, in a line of traffic.
Simple affirmations like these help us to make not only our own journey holy but the journey everyone else is making too. Benefitting the universe happens during tiny opportunities. Look for them today.
