RELATIONSHIPS

Perhaps choosing, relationships as a title, promises too much. I could write volumes and still have more to say. Yet, I know, we forget how important they are.

I have everything I need. All my bodily and other material needs are well met. I live on a beautiful piece of land in a beautiful part of the world. I have enough money to live elegantly; but just enough that I run out at the end of every month and don't have to worry about what I should do with the excess. Perfect!

Am I happy? Well much of the time. How about when I am irritated by some imagined slight by a family member? How about when I don't feel loved for any reason? How about when the world just seems to suck?

Well now; what's the problem? My relationship with myself and therefore others. All difficulties with others can be traced back to how you feel about yourself. Sure others can be jerks; but it is only a passing annoyance, unless you say something about yourself.

Unless you have been raised in a perfect family, you have been taught that you are not lovable, just the way you are. Even if you were, one of those rare people, who have been raised in an unusually healthy environment, the rest of the culture [school, churches etc.] will make sure you don't love yourself.

If you look deeply at how you were feeling, just before you attacked someone, you will recognize that you first attacked yourself. That is what we always do. We attack others out of our own self judgement.

So if relationships are the key to happiness, we must first deal with how we regard ourselves. We will never really feel loved, if we don't love ourselves. What does that mean? It means we forgive all those that taught us we are unlovable. They were just part of an endless chain of generations who taught their successors that they were somehow lacking. They did not know what they were doing. Forgive them.

We can break the chain. We don't have to do this to our children. We don't have to do this to each other. We can take responsibility for our own happiness, by discovering the well of love and peace inside us. We don't have to go to the top of a mountain. We do need to be scrupulous about what we hold in our mind. We do need to practice seeing only the love in the universe. We do need to see ourselves as loving beings of light and all our neighbors likewise.

We need to turn our minds around. We were carefully taught how awful everything is. NOW, teach yourself how wonderful everything is! Marvel at your beauty. See how wonderful your friends are. Curl up with yourself and love yourself, love yourself and love yourself some more. See a world created of unconditional love. Look at the universe and see that, what we call space, is vibrant, living, eternal, unconditional love.

Have a great day.

Love and Peace,  Gregg