Who are you listening to ?

I am aware many times every day that I am listening to the louder voice in my mind.  That it speaks first, and quite forcefully, is only part of its appeal.  It’s familiarity and the way in which it convinces me that I AM RIGHT, in far too many encounters with others, seduces me again and again.  It mesmerizes me, in fact.  But I am making progress!  My ego isn’t the whole of me.  I am certain of this.  But it claims my full attention when it can.  Fortunately,  I have learned to take an occasional deep breath, to pause before speaking,  and to seek a shift in perspective.  Then I try to listen for the other also present voice in my mind before making my response when ever an opportunity to disagree presents itself.  I have finally learned that I don’t have to join every argument I am invited to.  I am not a beginner on this path.  I have been a student searching for a more peaceful path for more than three decades, but the seduction of the ego remains strong and my resistance to it takes constant vigilance.

I am glad I am not striving for perfection.  I am striving for greater peace of mind, however.  And being a committed student of a course in miracles, coupled with the Twelve Steps, has allowed me to gather a few moments of peace every day for many, many  years.  And I think that any time any one of us lives in and responds from a place of peace, we are helping to create a more peaceful world for all of humanity, an endeavor worthy of every one of us, I think.  At the very least, I know that when my response to any situation comes from a peaceful place, I feel that God is pleased and that, in turn, pleases me.