Happy Sunday everyone,
Sunday,
July 12th,
2020.
I hope this Sunday morning finds you in a peaceful place,
Whatever that might look like and feel like for you.
For myself,
I am thankful that I arose early to see some sunshine and to see the wind in the trees and hear the birds before some clouds rolling in presently.
The last couple of weeks I've been reflecting on and sitting with the thoughts around beliefs and how our beliefs form our perspectives and our experiences and our emotions and where these beliefs come from,
How they're formulated through our society,
Through things we read,
Things we see and watch,
Through our experiences and through others that we call friends and the world around us.
So,
One phrase or quote that I like and I believe it's Eckhart Tolle is,
How do we know this is the experience we need?
And ultimately,
It's because it's the experience you're having.
And those experiences,
I believe,
Are opportunities for us to look at what emotions are coming up and what beliefs are in behind those emotions.
So for example,
If you believe that someone is a jerk,
Because of the behavior they're eliciting,
Why is it that you believe they're a jerk?
What is it in your history that has told you that that is the case?
Is it because you spoke with some friends and relate some information to them that based on that they believed that person was a jerk?
Or is it based on another set of friends?
Or is it based on society?
So maybe this is a little clearer.
Say you go to a doctor and the doctor tells you,
You,
Based on what's going on,
Have six months to live.
And he bases that on his experience of other patients,
Possibly with the same symptoms.
And that's what he tells you.
And that's what you believe.
And that formulates how the next six months of your life go.
But say,
For example,
You went to an equally qualified doctor,
Who's in his experiences,
People with those symptoms could rally and survive.
And he's had many cases that do.
And he tells you that through some changes that you make through your beliefs,
And through what you do in life,
That you could survive,
That there is hope for you.
And so then the next six months of your life are formulated very differently,
Based on what you've now been told and what you now believe.
And this happens so much throughout our life of how we formulate our beliefs,
Our perspectives and how we behave and the emotions we elicit from those beliefs.
And I leave you with this before the reading.
If you change your belief,
You change what you see in the world,
And what you experience in the world,
And what you feel.
To believe is to be live,
To bring to life,
Whatever we believe,
We bring to life.
So I leave you with this reading to reflect with on Sunday as you move through your week ahead,
And you realize,
And maybe possibly ask,
What do I believe,
What do I bring to life.
A young lady was waiting in the airport's departure area pending her flight home.
Realizing there was a delay,
She bought a small bag of chocolate chip cookies to enjoy while she waited.
She made her way to the VIP lounge to sit and relax.
The young lady took her first cookie.
But much to her surprise,
The young man beside her also took a cookie.
He said nothing.
And she said nothing.
But she was clearly bothered.
For each cookie,
She took he did the same.
Again,
No words,
No looks were exchanged.
But this woman's anger grew.
This continued until there was only one cookie left.
And then the man took the last cookie and divided it into half,
Leaving her half in the bag.
Well,
That was it.
She was so frustrated and bothered by his lack of consideration that she packed up her things and walked to her gate.
She took her seat and began to settle for her flight.
Still very upset by this young man's lack of manners.
She then went into her purse and she felt her heart sink.
There in her purse was her bag of cookies.
Unopened and untouched.
She was so ashamed of how she had responded.
This young man had shared his cookies without saying a word.
He even gave her half of the last one.
He wasn't upset or worried by her actions.
He gave without condition or feeling of anger or bitterness.
Right?
What we believe.
She believed she was right.
And that he was in the wrong.
Just based on perception,
Based on experiences.
She had a host of emotions and reactions.
Based on her beliefs.
I ask you today,
What do you believe that is causing you the emotions you're having?
And you might have to dig really deep to see where these long held,
Very accepted beliefs are causing you the concern,
The frustration in your own life at the moment.
Namaste.
