BACK TO NORMAL?

Well, this Monday is more or less back to normal. Jamie didn't think I needed to drive her this Morning. She has another appointment with the chiropractor and then she is going to get milk from the Amish. Friday, may have been a turning point. She went to the hospital to get an x-ray, and the person she saw, felt that a medication, to reduce inflammation, should be tried, followed by some physical therapy. Serendipitously, she met a person, she knew, who had the exact same symptoms, and was cured following this procedure. The anti-inflammation medicine worked and she has no pain.

The lunar eclipse was hidden from us. It was cloudy. I went out several times last night. There was a brief break in the clouds, occasionally, but it never lasted longer than a minute. I got a glimpse, now and then, of the moon in various stages. I won't get an another chance, to see a total lunar eclipse, until 2033. Heck, I'll only be 98 and time flies. Thanks, to all you folks, who posted the pictures.

We all know, we best teach by example. But, in relationships with people, close to us, isn't it hard to resist pointing out this or that? It doesn't work, very well, does it?  For example, just this Morning I admonished somebody [or at least hinted] that they needed to be peaceful. In a classroom, where we are being paid to teach, that might work, sometimes. In relationships, it is usually aggravating. Paradoxically, the admonishment to be peaceful, can only come from an unpeaceful person. It is because this persons, lack of peace, disturbed my peace, that I made the comment. Therefore it is the pot calling the kettle black.

What if I was just to, listen and observe, this person as they were expressing, what I thought was an unpeaceful state. What if I was just, able to be, and radiate peace. That person may have gained peace. How could my comment, on this persons lack of peace, be construed as anything but criticism? Has that ever helped.

I am sure you can come up with examples in your own life. We often admonish people, close to us, when they are having an emotional response, we think, is not quite appropriate. Has it ever helped? I know it has led to some good arguments. Haven't we often mirrored the very emotion we are responding to? Can we imagine ourselves saying, " You don't have to be so angry" and expressing ourselves in an irritated voice?

If we have been on a psychological/spiritual path of learning [and I guess we all are], we have heard, over and over again, that we can only teach by example. The exception being, when we are asked, specifically, to teach.

We all have opinions and we like to express them. However, opinions about how somebody else should be, or act, are best kept to ourselves. This is true even when asked, unless we know, for sure, the asking is genuine. We really cannot know enough, about what is going on with another person, to give definitive advice. That whole thing about taking the 'beam from our own eye' is huge. Very, very huge. I don't know anybody, who is clear enough, about who they are, to offer advice about another. I know, I am not.

So if we don't like irritation in others, give up being irritated. If we want to help somebody get over their anger, we need to give up being angry; otherwise, we will just mirror theirs. If we want peace around us, we must radiate peace. If we like order, we must be orderly.

Eventually, we realize that everything has to do with our being. We teach, what we are. If we want love in the world, we need to be loving. If we want to see happiness, we need to be happy. If we want to experience honesty, we must be honest. If we want openness, we can only be open. We can only Be. We are, always, teaching what we are.

So that gets back to the idea, that if we don't like what we see, see differently. Don't try to change the world; change how you see the world.

Each one of us, is on the path, of taking the beam out of our own eye. When we see only Love, we will know we have been successful.

Love and Peace,  Gregg