THE DILEMMA

The last two Mornings, here on Laughing Water Farm have been marvelous. They followed a few days of cold and rain. The temperature was 20 degrees below normal F.

We were concerned, that our family get together, in honor of Noah and Gregory's homecoming, would be impaired. The forecast for Saturday went from poor to bad, first: it was partly cloudy with a high of 67 F; then it was partly Sunny with high in the 60s; as Saturday approached it got worse. By Saturday Morning it was in the low fifties and raining. The forecast didn't promise any improvement.

We were determined to stay in high spirits and well we did. The party was a great success! By five o'clock, the rain ceased [it was only a drizzle-most of the time]. Everybody got their tents up. We had a delicious dinner of lamb shish kebobs, Greek salad and other wonderful stuff. It was well after midnight before all were in bed.

The next Morning was glorious. It was, as if, it was making up for the day before, cool but Sunny with a deep blue sky and no mosquitoes. We were able to have our breakfast, of pork sausage, Jamie's home baked muffins hot out of the oven, and fresh berries, out on the deck; all washed down with a gallon of good coffee. Does it get any better than this?

What is the dilemma, as mentioned in the title? We have been told to love. We want to love everybody. We sometimes struggle to love everybody. We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves. And that is the dilemma: we can only love our neighbor as our self. We can't love anybody more than we love ourselves. That is the limit of our capacity to love; the degree we love ourselves. Do you love yourself?

Loving yourself does not mean being greedy. It does not mean being selfish. It doesn't mean focusing on your self. But, it does mean being kind to yourself. It does mean thinking well of yourself. It does mean avoiding negative thoughts about your self. It does mean giving up self judgement. We struggle with judgement. We must keep in mind that how we judge others, is always some reflection of self judgement. We will continue to see, our judgements about our self, reflected back to us.

None of these thought are new to us. We have heard them over and over again. We need to hear them over and over. We stubbornly hold on to, poor opinions of ourselves. We are very stubborn and it is expressed in both directions. We hang, stubbornly, on to our poor perceptions of ourselves, and we are stubbornly determined to learn to love, as we know we are able. We will succeed. Love always succeeds.

As we go about our daily life, be aware of your space [that area around you, that atmosphere, that bubble around you, the place where you breathe]. What is it filled with? Is it peaceful? Is it loving? Do you feel a warm glow? What do you feel? That space, that immediate experience, is of your making. It can, as easily, be a bubble of love, than anything else.

We have been imbued with self-criticism. Our culture, our families, our teachers have encouraged it. It is deeply engrained. It has become automatic. It takes conscious practice to get over it. That is why we need these reminders. It is a very rewarding practice. As you reject self criticism, you find yourself accepting others more. You feel their warm glow, You respond with a warm glow, There is nothing more reinforcing than love.

Yes, we are learning. let's pay attention to that space around us. Let's keep it filled with love,

Love and Peace,  Gregg