Living in the Now Newsletter
February 27, 2021

        You have probably heard that two wrongs do not make a right. How about many? Suppose a person is abused by another? What is a common reaction by one who is abused? Or one who may witness this? To seek revenge? To look for the abuser to suffer a similar fate? [Too late...] To wish someone teach the abuser a lesson? To hate the abuser? To wish to know why the abuser did such an act? Does any of this help the one abused? Not likely.
        Other common reactions to experiencing abuse are anger, sorrow, sadness, guilt, grief, self pity, self condemnation, denial, etc. We might do well to explore exactly why we are reacting the way we are and perhaps make some changes in the way we have trained ourselves to think. It is normal to feel not so good feelings when one experiences any form of disrespect. Have we trained self to look at such feelings and then let them go? Do we honestly look at our own behavior, assess whether we have in fact contributed in any way to the disrespect, decide to change our own behavior if appropriate, and let it go?
        The individual and only the individual is responsible for the individual’s reaction to anything and everything. Our choice. The individual is not responsible for the actions of another. An individual is however, responsible that our own actions, or inaction, affect others.
        It is this ability to influence each other that requires focus. We affect others and can be affected by others. This requires we carefully choose our own thoughts and that we protect our mind from the not so good thoughts of self and others.
        Protecting the mind entails controlling both input and output. We need to be consciously aware of what we are allowing into our “home,” what we are feeding self. Halt intake that is not beneficial. Install automatic barriers (filters) to harmful thinking. Abort thoughts which lead to distress. Encourage thoughts which cause us to feel good and expand our awareness. Stop limiting paths which some consider impossible. All is possible. Is it for the good of all? Or not?
        Remember “Mind is the Builder.” What we encourage grows. What we ignore atrophies. We are the door keepers, the gate keepers. As we allow and permit our thoughts to grow in good directions, our imagination builds our ever expanding universe, filled with ever increasing wonders and marvels to be shared with all our relations.