Have a cup of tea

     One of the hardest things for me to examine and actually have to give up is the concept of free will.   I grew up in a traditional religious base that told me that I was responsible for my life and my actions.  It is like you are always expected to win the game.  Well, you don’t.  You can give it your best shot, but most of the time, it is a million things going on at the same time that affects the outcome.  The idea of a game is probably most comfortable to see this concept since there is a team and the team is only as good as the weakest link not to mention the atmospheric pressure and the skills of the other side. 

     In accepting the concept of free will it is up to you to select door number #1.  All will be right with the world, the world will be saved, etc.  The free will concept was always more comfortable to support when I/we were winners.  And maybe now it is easier to see that we are not the executive directors of our own destiny but only a player with millions of variables.

     What part of me thinks, forgets the motorbike key at a busy plaza and leaves the bike unattended for hours.  What part of me picks that word or this word. What part of me thinks that it is your responsibility to make me happy or at least not get in my way of my being happy?

     If all I have is NOW.. can I pick a word NOW that will have the same meaning and significance when it comes out of my mouth or gets to the listener's ear.   I pass folks on the street who spend their day sweeping up leaves in an area where there are leaves falling all the time.  Is the value of their effort any less because the “aren’t doing the job.”  They are doing what they are expected to do, they sweep.  I am doing what I am “expected to do”… I get up, I pay attention. 

     What incredible pressure we put on ourselves and others when we have these pictures of how life should be and if it doesn’t go that way, there is something wrong.   When it is not going the way we think it should, we get mad at whoever is around since they are keeping us from be happy by not making our world the way we think it should be.

I think we will be constantly unhappy with our life and those around us when we think we can control anything and anyone…..  STOP    have a cup of tea