Missing Day

 I just realized that I never wrote a blog for October 10!  What happened?  Well, a wedding happened that day.  I was out of town surrounded by young enthusiastic, energetic young people and parents.  For an introvert like me that takes a lot of energy.  Plus, I was out of my normal eat and sleep patterns.  And did those young people like to party.  It was a beautiful wedding with a loving bride and groom.  Apparently I did not bore people too much with the homily and the wedding was well received.  So I did not get in the way.  It was all out of town in St. Helena, Napa County wine country.  The bride is the first granddaughter of my high school/college friend.  As an introvert I was way above my pay scale in talking to so many people.  And you got no blog.  Nor did I get much sleep.  

Justice

 Sometimes justice is not always the best way to go.  If people are working for a daily wage the just thing is to pay more to the one who worked more that day.  But maybe not.  Sometimes goodness is better than justice.  Maybe those who worked a short time was not their fault.  They are day laborers and got hired late in the day.  If you pay them justly, they get the least amount of wage at the end of the day.  But is the “least” enough to feed family, take care of that day’s needs?  If you put yourself in their place you might opt for goodness instead of justice.  The full day worker will balk, because they are about justice.  They do not have empathy for the last hired.  I try to put myself into another person’s place before I make some decisions.  

Yeast

 A thought, suggestion, notion can be dealt with a little like yeast.  Yeast has no particular power to make little things bigger until it has some moisture added to it.  When you give a suggestion, notion, thought time and attention it is like adding the moisture to the yeast.  If the thought is bad for you then don’t give it any time.  Get onto something else or ignore it if you can.  For those who tend to live fear based lives, that fear is just waiting to grow bigger for your destruction.  

The Mind

If you want to live a more spiritual and sober life you go beyond right action.  You must add right thinking.  Yes, it begins with doing the right thing.  Because then you can notice what you are thinking or feeling.  Outsides reveal insides only to you.  Others see only the action and might praise you.  Ego loves this.  But what if you did the right thing with resentment, or self-pity, or fear, to name a few things to work on.  What to do?  Tell another person who might be able to give you some wisdom. And pray with humility.  If the ego runs your life, you are on a slippery slope.   

False Pride

 If you judge yourself or someone else by the results, that is false pride.  For yourself you say, “I should have done better.”  For others you say, “ I could have done better than them.”  It is the negative side of pride.  It separates us from our best self and from others.  Effort is what we might control.  Results are not up to us.  Plus, the prideful person cannot accept results that do not match what they want.  Some very good results are often hidden at first glance.  

Wretched

 Going to confession in religion and going into AA after a long absence or first time have something in common.  You feel kind of terrible maybe even wretched.  You don’t much like yourself and maybe others would agree in your everyday life.  But by going in and admitting the truth about your mess, you have the chance to come out feeling a whole lot better.  The more honest, humble and thorough, the more you will feel wonderful later.  And then going to confession more regularly and attending meetings more regularly will have even better results and all those people who avoided you might welcome you back.  

Who Is Looking?

 Meditation helps me behave better when no one is looking.  How much time do you spend on outward appearances for when someone is looking?  We can appear a certain way in public though we might feel quite differently on the insides.  We can put on a good face for the sake of others.  We might have responsibilities that call for us to put on a good face, positive attitude, sense of control.  But then who is going to take care of the insides when those people are not around?  Inside stuff cannot be faked for our insides.  The healing, the getting in touch with the really real requires some quiet and stillness.  Solutions for the insides are inside us.