Perspective

Today, I'm really rambling so bear with me if you can. LoL! 

  I was driving to work this morning and got to thinking. Well, actually I've had this thought many times before. 

  I wonder how do insects see us? Like the creepy crawlies. Roaches and what not. I mean, they are only toe height, so there is no way they can see us in our entirety. So they just see parts of us. A toe, a finger, and most often the bottom of what must look like a MOUNTAIN coming down on top of them when they get stomped. I imagine the whole thing is very scary indeed. I can't even imagine their world as my own!! 

   Then it makes you wonder.. What are WE seeing?! Are we seeing everything or just bits and pieces. What if there is some giant being wearing us around it's neck in a little sphere. What we think is the sky is in fact her/his shirt. Or skin even. It can be ANYTHING! We go up in space, but who knows?! Maybe that's It's world. Maybe even THAT vastness is just the being's skin or clothing! How frightening that would be for us! 

  Of course there is no proof of this.

   But maybe there is a tiny roach trying to convince his fellow roaches that the toe is a part of a whole larger thing. A LIVING one at that! They must think he's insane! LoL! No creature could be THAT big!! 

  But here we are. Goliaths compared to them. So it's not inpossible that WE are living on some colossal being. 

  Just a thought. :)

Namaste. Peaceful blessing. _/|\_

  

Starting Your Day On a Positive Note.

* This was written last Saturday, but didn't upload properly. *

  This morning I woke up. This was a good thing. So every morning you wake up, give thanks and feel blessed that today is a chance to begin anew. _/|\_

  That being said, today I want to rambling about how we start our day and the role others play in that. 

  This morning AFTER I woke up, obviously I wasn't ecstatic anyway.. It is a work day, which is where I am as I write this. I felt blessed to be alive but, not extremely excited to be waking up at 3am. But, I'm thankful to have income and to be alive and fairly able bodied to earn that income. So, I pushed on. 

  Well today, DH was apparently craving news of what's going on in the world today. Something to do I guess. But every story was a bout murder!! And of course due to sheer proximity, guess who he felt the need to pass on this news to? Yep, I had won the crap lotto! 

  Tales of murders at a celebration, a mother killing her daughter for her trust fund- her INFANT daughter! Then there was a lighter side, some guy from TV depleting the ginseng supply on some mountain and making a fortune off of it. (In other words: greed.) Needless to say my mood and happiness quickly began to slide downhill. Eventually I just told him, no one wants to start their day with bad news. I assume he got the point. Unable to find any good news, he left that topic alone. 

  The point of this is you sometimes have to tell people to just ease up on the sharing! Of course you need to know what is going on - with your family and the world.. But not 24/7. The start of your day is the most important part of your day. It sets your mood for the day. Start bad or depressed or worried and you will have a hard time coming up out of that funk. You don't have to live in a hole, just time your worldly news properly. :) It's not always possible, but when it is (say your husband reading morbid headlines) don't hesitate to say "not yet.." :)

Namaste. Blessings and peace be with you. _/|\_

~Jen

Thoughtfulness.

  Driving down the streets of The US, you see a lot of things that seem to be done just to drive you into a blinding rage. People driving way too slowly in the left (which is for passing, by the way.), tailgating, no cares for blinding oncoming and followed traffic with their highbeams. The list could go on and on! You wonder what kind of awful people these are, doing these things?! 

 Serial killers? Rapists? Child molesterers?!!!

  Well, maybe some are, but most are surprisingly just people like you and me. People just trying to make it the best way they know how. 

   Hard to believe, right? Believe me I know!!  It's hard for me to even see such unthoughtful demons as just regular people like myself! I always dim my lights and change lanes to let faster traffic pass! I always make sure to never enter the lane until I see the other car's headlights to make sure I'm not too close to them. 

  Always, right? Well except when I forget my brights are on... Or the rare occasion my mind wanders.... Or maybe I'll come in the lane sooner if another car is coming. Or I see an animal near the road... And I might have to use my brights while following on a particularly dark night. But that's all understandable!! Right? 

Yeah, right... 

  Thing is, all these ARE acceptable reasons. Because you see your actions 24/7. But when others meet you on the road after meeting 50 others blinding them with their highbeams, guess what? You join the ranks of the asshole drivers. Even if you've been extremely courteous to everyone on the road, others see this time. 

  They don't see you 24/7. They see you NOW. Blinding them with brights that seem to burn their retinae. 

  Ok, I know some people are bad drivers. Either not knowing better or just not caring. You can't really tell which from the outside. Just like in life. (Well driving is a part of life, but you get what I'm saying.) You can't really tell where a person is or has been. All you see is right now, and there is something to be said for that. If they are doing terrible things, they have chosen to do these awful things. And that is unfortunate. But imagine that somewhere along this path of life, that this could be YOU. I'm not saying they get a free pass. They made their choice, of course. I'm just saying think about it. They may have started out damn nearly SAINTS! Always doing the right thing. Always being courteous, helpful, generous.. And always being used and abused. Never receiving courtesy. Their kindness always taken for weakness. 

  And at the time when all these horrible things being done to them.. At the time to choose how they would proceed.. They chose to plunge into the depths of  anger, revenge, and coldness. Deep into Samsara's every indulgence. No longer strong enough to fight it. No longer willing to fight it. No desire to fight it. And so, you see the person that came out of that, and instinctively we hate it. Because it could be that dark side of any of us! 

  Think about it. Let's get back on the road. 

  I've blinded a driver back that was blinding me. It felt GREAT! But that's how it starts. Small and justified. And the anger still doesn't go away. Even in your moment of glorious revenge, you're still angry and looking for the next opportunity for revenge. We automatically start looking for behavior to punish. This can easily lead to being that same person you despise or fear. 

  We are all human with emotions, but we also have the ability to step back and think about what we are doing or about to do. It's never too late to change direction as long as we have our human existence! Man may never forgive what you have done, but it's never too late to do better. All it takes is taking "I" out of the situation. Take hurt feelings and feelings of "I deserve" out. It's true you deserve all the best, and as soon as you stop expecting everybody else to give it to you, you'll have that and more. You'll have peace. :)

Well, that's all for today's rambling. 

*With palms together, deepest bows*

Namaste. :)

~ Jen 

Sometimes...

  Sometimes deeper thought is necessary. Even when things seem cut and dry. 

  This new job I have, it pays the bills. Which a job should do. If it didn't, who'd keep it, right? The pay is pretty good. But something just doesn't feel right. I mean, it's probably a great company with wonderful benefits and all that. But since I got here, I felt like a fish out of water. Like nothing is a fit. I just feel... Outside is the best word I can come up with. LoL! Nothing fits, nothing's comfortable. Even the equipment doesn't fit me! The hats are too small, the safety shields are a terrible fit... Things that everyone else can do fairly well, cause me pain.. There is getting use to it, but there is a point where you just have to say, "This is as good as it gets. So whatever comes next comes. " 

  I was so worked up about potentially getting passed up for a permanent position here before. But the more I see the more I realize that it's not that I'm not the same person I was the first time I came here- well, I have more experience and I am more cautious, so I guess I've changed a little- the issue is this place has changed. And not to the good. Constant tweaking has lead to an environment of "blame the other guy, just get it off of MY back!" And that leads to the same thing you have in the "lesser" companies. But with more soul crushing stress. 

Maybe I'm on the wrong side of the plant. They do have shipping here. I'd have to learn to drive a forklift, but that's something I want to do anyway. I don't have a problem with "rules", but this is just.... It's not "good stress". And the more I see, the less I worry about staying on. 

  And that is comforting. I actually feel BETTER in that mindset. I had expectations when I started working here. And I think I set myself up for disappointment. And I think that is a pattern in my life and why life has been so unfulfilling. Expectation can go two ways- you get what you want EXACTLY and you're happy and justified! God has smiled upon me!!! But more often than not you only get part of it, or it's not what you thought it would be, or more likely you don't get it at all. And then comes the soul-crushing depression! Making you hate you ever had hope. 

  Hope is nice, but expectation is the devil! You set yourself up on the ledge of a 100 story building and blindly walk that ledge. More than likely, you'll lose your footing and fall to your death!

  I'd never say lose "hope". But don't expect anything. Go through life with no expectations and you will never be disappointed. Hope for the best, but don't expect it. :)It's all a part of letting go of attachments. And that's what true peace is all about. Doing what you CAN, but letting life just happen. And accepting it. You can't control it. So, sit back and watch the show. :) 

Namaste. Peace and blessings be with you. _/|\_

~Jen