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I ran across something recently and decided it had some merit. I hope you will stir up the cobwebs of your minds and see whether you agree. At least we can have a nice discussion.
Here's the quote:
“I may not be that funny or athletic or good looking or rich or smart or talented...I forgot where I was going with this.”
“I forgot.” Or perhaps, “I don't remember.”
How often do those words dance trippingly from your tongue? For a number of us, it seems those are what I call "bosom buddy" words.
We get so used to saying them that we don't realize we are actualizing a catch phrase for our lives. You remember, like the old catchy slogans we used to hear on television: like "Look, Mom, no cavities!" I think that's where I am going with this.
We so often ignore our own self-talk.
As you know, more than a year ago, I had a fall and ended up in the hospital. But recently, I’ve found myself going on and on about it. Why? Could it be that it's become a soundtrack for my life? And again, I wonder why?
I began to realize that I needed to progress. To move on. To let go.
But old habits are hard to break. Recently I had a very serious talk with myself, and, of course, I kept running back to hide in my cloak of invisibility, as though that would make everything better. Guess what. Sometimes you need to confront yourself and determine to change your self-speech.
Here's something that I think might help me make my point. (Yes, I DO have one.)
To paraphrase writer/speaker Matthew Kelly,
“It doesn’t matter that you are climbing quickly up the ladder of life, if you have the ladder leaning against the wrong wall.””
Sometimes we need to stand back and check our perspective. What we began, we tend to continue, especially when it comes to actualizing it in our lives.
I love this story. It too, is a Kelly quote:
There once lived a man whose name was Jude. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ and was renowned throughout the region as a wise and deeply spiritual man. People traveled great distances, venturing across foreign lands, to seek his advice and healing.
One day Jude was relaxing outside his hut when a hunter came by. The hunter was surprised to see Jude relaxing and rebuffed him for loafing. It was not the hunter's idea of what a holy man should be doing.
Jude recognized these thoughts running through the hunter's mind and also noticed that the man carried a bow for hunting. "What is your occupation, sir?"
"I am a hunter," the man replied.
"Very good," Jude said. "Bend your bow and shoot an arrow." The man did so. "Bend it again and shoot another arrow," said Jude.
The hunter did so, again and again. Finally, he complained, "Father, if I keep my bow always stretched, it will break."
"Very good, my child," Jude replied. "So it is with me and all people. If we push ourselves beyond measure we will break. It is good and right from time to time to relax and re-create ourselves."
Kelly concludes, if you don't break away from the tensions of daily living, they will break you.
Now, I know I may be reading a little too much into this small tale, but as I ruminate on it, it seems to be telling me my own small watchword. Have you thought of it?
Maybe I am misreading this, but I can't help but feel that the lesson is here:
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
I believe that we become what our brains keep telling us.
I don't know, you may disagree, and I do truly realize there may be several leanings as we discuss this, but I am not so sure I am wrong. If I continue to say and do things to undermine my spirit, I have no one to blame but myself.
Consider this with me, if you will. What do you find yourself telling yourself about yourself, thus buttressing those negative thoughts in your mind? Let us stand back a few steps and watch and listen to ourselves, attempting to lead ourselves into a new way of thinking.
I have been working out a strategy. I don't know. It may be goose feathers and motes of dust, but it just seems to me that we read in the Bible that we need to be walking in that same spirit of truth and love. So, let's proclaim it, not just to those we want to influence, but in our hearts and heads.
““This is the way; walk ye in it.” ”
L. K. Houk
So pleased to let you know Book #5, A Job for Dancer, is now available! You can get the Down Home on the Farm books directly from me.
Contact me through my website: LKHouk.com