Hello and welcome back to Your Daily Meds.
Today we're going to talk about matter.
Matter.
As in,
Does it matter?
The matter at hand?
And the matter that we are made of.
We make things matter.
That's what it means to be human,
Is to assign value and purpose to things.
And it's a strain.
Not a bad strain necessarily.
We need stress in our lives to stimulate us to action.
If there were no stress,
If we were totally relaxed all the time,
We wouldn't be stimulated,
We wouldn't be motivated.
And of course we all know the other end of the stick,
Which is too much stress.
So why are we talking about matter?
Because when things matter to us,
We are invested in them.
And if too many things matter to us,
Then of course the stress builds up.
If mattering is about assigning purpose and meaning,
Then of course the thing that matters most to us is ourselves.
And it does seem important to us to assign ourselves meaning and purpose.
We look for it sometimes as if it's out there waiting to be found.
But of course in the end it's always we who make it.
We make things matter.
Or not matter,
By caring.
And why we care is because,
Well,
What else are we going to do with our lives if we don't care about anything?
Mattering is what it's all about.
Something has to matter.
And we have our priorities.
It's generally considered good if other people matter more to you than yourself.
It's good to be honest,
To have integrity and dignity and courage.
These things matter.
We give them value because they enhance our lives.
And they make us better together.
Who we are is something that changes every minute.
Not in big ways obviously.
From minute to minute it's slight.
From day to day different moods.
From year to year different thoughts and ideas.
From decade to decade different depths of insight and wisdom.
We never stop changing,
Adapting.
And we like to think growing but not necessarily.
It's possible for the years to pass and no growth to happen.
Growth requires effort.
Cultivation.
Practice.
Practice of what?
Well of all those good things.
Honesty,
Integrity,
Courage,
Dignity.
We cultivate ourselves.
We make ourselves better.
We make ourselves matter more.
And this is a tricky balancing act because if I matter too much then I'm just an egoist.
But if I don't matter enough then there's a sort of a negative egotism in that too.
Look at me and what a victim I am.
Anything other than having no purpose for nothing to matter.
So my message here is to think small.
Keep the things that matter as close to you as possible.
Keep them simple.
Honesty and humility and courage and dignity.
And all these things come together bit by bit as you practice paying attention to who you are,
To what you are,
To what is,
What is happening right now.
Who you are is not a story.
It's not the description.
Who you are is something that is immediately apparent to you right now if you just stop and look.
Look.
Feel your breath.
Feel your body.
How do you feel?
What's happening in your mind?
Are you keeping it simple?
Just paying attention to what's happening right now in your body,
Around you,
In your head,
In your heart.
This is you.
This is who you are.
You don't need words.
Words are for explaining things to other people.
This is your experience.
Your experience puts you directly in touch with who you are.
It doesn't mean you can grab yourself because you're changing all the time,
Aren't you?
That's the way things are.
Things change all the time,
Constantly,
Minute by minute,
Second by second.
And this is who you are right now.
It requires no explanation,
No defense,
No rationale,
No words.
So just enjoy breathing,
Being present in this moment,
Being yourself.
And of course,
More than anything else,
Enjoy mattering.
In this place of focus,
Honesty,
Dignity,
Integrity,
And courage,
There is no self doubt,
No uncertainty,
No defensiveness,
No murkiness.
There's something very clear about the present moment.
And when you're at peace with it and you're most comfortable in your skin,
Then it doesn't matter if the experience is pleasurable or painful or boring.
There's a happiness that comes from these qualities which enables you to deal with any pain or suffering and accept openly all happiness and pleasure.
When you're at peace with yourself,
You're happy to live and the nature of the experience is secondary.
The important thing is that you're experiencing it,
It matters to you,
You're living your life.
So remember,
It's good to contribute in life,
To be part of society,
To be connected to at least one other person.
So give yourself matter.
And that's all for now,
I'll see you next time.
