Here we are and it is already 'hump-day'.....you know, Wednesday. It won't be long now until Santa Claus arrives at the homes of all of the 'believers' and good little boys and girls (and a few big boys and girls). You better watch out, you better not pout, you better not lie.... Goms is telling you why.......but you already know the ending don't you???
Goms was just at the beach....I know---how lucky is Goms???....but while I was basking in the sun and enjoying the beach sounds and watching everyone else enjoying their beach day too.....it got Goms to thinking that I was enjoying their time together vicariously.....The definition of 'vicarious' is; a) indirectly, in, by or through a substitute, b) felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another, i.e. 'she enjoyed the wedding vicariously'.
But Goms thinks we all live parts of our lives all the time vicariously. And not just enjoying things through other people's lives. We can also live our past vicariously through our own eyes by observing our children's lives. We remember each scenario and stage as our children go through them with their own children. And when our children do have children, we almost enjoy it more than our own experience because we have the luxury of seeing how important each step and phase is and how fleeting the good times swept by us when we were raising our children. And we were so caught up in the day to day responsibilites that we didn't enjoy it as much as we should have. We can now deliberately slow down and savor each moment we spend with our children and their children. We can see our children doing the same things sometimes and making the same mistakes we made.....but it is best to just 'zip' it and let them realize it on their own and in their own timeframe, the same way we have.
We can live vicariously by watching a TV series with the same people in them each week, that we can almost feel they are a part of our lives. We live vicariously each time we 'see how the other half lives' on the numerous reality shows that are so popular now. We see the rappers 'crib' with all the lavish bells and whistles.....we see the 'housewives of this town or that city' and how they spend their time and money, we see how werewolves and vampires and English boys with horned-rimmed glasses live in their parts of the world. That is all vicarious-ness.
When and if we are lucky enough to mature spiritually and become 'conscious' of our surroundings and how everything and everyone affects everyone and everything else, we have finally begun to see the forest THROUGH the trees. And when that does happen...there is no turning back. You just become more 'conscious' every day and it is so wonderful that you feel you have this great big secret that no one else can touch. I think they call that 'enlightenment' or spiritual awakening, or awareness and understanding. Whatever it is.....it is the BEST!!!
But it is so much easier to see the faults and mistakes other people make than the ones we make ourselves. What does the Bible say about that in Matthew 7:3? ......"Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Because it is easy to see the faults and mistakes other people make because we have probably already made them and we know what is coming. And the mistakes we are now making, haven't been proven to us to be wrong as yet. No one can tell you that you are about to make a mistake because we only learn from actually making the mistake ourselves. When someone else is having a hard time, you feel sympathy for them but when you have already made the same mistake and been through the hard time.....then you feel empathy for them.
So Goms advice for everyone today is to live and let live. No one is going to listen to you anyway if you try to give them a 'heads-up'. The temptation to do something that they think will be so wonderful will overrule anything someone else is trying to keep them from doing. Or if they are just being stubborn about something and you can see where it is leading.....leave them be and let them discover how it affects them and everyone else later. Just hope that no one gets hurt too much along the way and that they will eventually become 'conscious' of how they are affecting the people around them by their behavior. Remember that the definition of selfishness is....."not living as one wishes to live.....it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."
In the end, it turns out that 'we' are the only ones in charge of our lives and 'we' are ultimately the only ones who will reap the rewards, or rue the day, or suffer the consequences of the choices that we did make in every scenario of our time here on the planet. So choose wisely friends and boys and girls. It's your own life and your future that you are shaping here. Hope it turns out like you hoped and you thought it would. Hugs and Mush - Gommy ((*>*))
