Hello boys and girls. Today is Friday and the end of another work week for many. Have you ever noticed how you get ready for work every day and you do the routine (habits) the same way, every day, while you are getting ready, i.e. turn off the alarm, go to the bathroom, take a shower, dress.....somewhere in there you may have made yourself a cup of coffee or a cup of tea.....had a bowl of cereal.....made some toast? Then you drove your car.....or you caught the bus, subway, train.....or whatever means of transportation you use. When you get to work, you start your day at the office/construction site/company and work until it's lunch, then back to whatever you do until it is time to go back home and do what you do until it's time to go bed and sleep and then you get up and do it all over again.
These habits are much like our behaviors and our beliefs. We 'learn' them or believe them by doing them over and over again and they become our patterns. We expect what will happen, as well as we believe what we have been told over and over again. Sometimes, we find that our patterns aren't working out very well for us and we find that we are in a 'rut' or we are feeling unfulfilled or we are just spinning our wheels.
But we can change our patterns/habits/beliefs. I like to think of the analogy of a mouse in a maze. After much conditioning and having it pointed out to the mouse that there is a piece of cheese at the end of the maze.....the mouse will turn left, then right, then left.....left....right...or whatever pattern he has come to believe will get him to the cheese. And he will do it every time.... because he has done it over and over and it is now a habit or a belief that the cheese is indeed there at the end of the maze. But what if you put the mouse in a 'cheese maze'? The WHOLE maze is now made up of a giant wheel of cheese. Guess what? The mouse will not even realize the maze is made of cheese and will still go left, right, left....left....right...etc. until he gets his 'usual piece of cheese.' He could actually have had the whole wheel of cheese that was just disguised as a maze! A-MAZE-ing right?
That is how many of us go through life. We just live life out of the habits, patterns and beliefs we have come to be comfortable with.....thinking it is the best way because it is how we have always done it. We have witnessed the same outcome every time. Without even realizing that there may be another way or a better way or an easier way right under our noses.
We look to change our conditioned beliefs when they no longer work for our good. When we feel our way of doing things isn't working for us any longer. When we are not getting along with the people at work....or a family member.....or the way we are raising our children seems not to be having the desired outcome we had 'planned'. When the 'club' we have chosen to join (our friends or close relationships), feels like maybe we shouldn't have joined that particular organization. So, we begin to feel uneasy about our choices, and only then do we begin to look around for another path or ideal or for a different way out of the maze.
As an example.....maybe you are the kind of person who has to have the last word in every argument. But you find that lately you are having waaaay too many arguments and they are unresolved because you find you are unable to ever admit any wrongdoing on your part. How's that working for you? OK? Seriously????? Maybe you could try not having the last word the next time you are having an argument and agree that you may have had something to do with 'whatever'...... BAM.....you will not believe how the dynamic of the situation changes. There is a quiet peaceful 'death' of the toxic feelings between you and the other person.
Or how about you are the sort of person who feels they are doing their job extremely well and with the utmost of care and sincerity about your responsibilities? Then a co-worker tries to derail you by telling the boss an untruth about you. You quit your position because you just can't bear working there any longer, thinking that the boss believed the other co-worker. What if you just let the co-worker do their dirty work and lie about you and you just continue going about doing your best, as you always have? You are the better person for having let the co-worker be the one who will have to face their own Karma and you will not have taken anything away from yourself. Let sleeping 'dogs' lie. Or to frame it another way.....just let lying dogs sleep....tee, hee!
If you are finding yourself in the 'habit' of feeling unrest, unhappiness, or you are having feelings of being unfulfilled......look around for ways to 'get' to the end of the maze by an easier route. If you are unfulfilled.....there may be something right under your nose that you have not noticed.... that could ultimately end up being your Dharma (hearts' desire)......Or if you are unhappy with a family member or your spouse....try not giving unsolicited advice or stubbornly feel you have to have the last word every time. Ask yourself..."Do I want peace or do I want to be right all the time?"
So 'WAKE UP' peeps. Look around for another way out of your maze. Remember that 'Enlightenment' means to awaken. It isn't all woo-woo ethereal mumbo-jumbo. It just means to become aware of how your habits, routines, behaviors and beliefs are working for you at any given time. If they aren't working for you.........toss them out. It takes practice and patience. In Gommy's experience.....it took lots and lots of patience. You need to learn new ways to 'think and feel' about how you look at things. Because, as a wise person once said (Wayne Dyer) .....'when you change the way you look at things.....the things you look at change." Old habits are hard to break.....but the ones that are not doing you service any longer are just impeding you from enjoying life.....and we are all meant to be enjoying this wonderful journey called "Life".
When you start seeing the results of how situations, patterns, habits, beliefs and thoughts that are not serving you any longer can change.....and when looking at other ways to deal with them can actually resolve the trouble you are having in dealing with them.....you will be astonished at how you can start making things go the way YOU wish they could.
So....happy detours everyone. It can be fun to see just how well it works for you. Start small at first. Maybe with something that isn't 'the end of the world' important to you. Maybe you can just try not answering back one time on a little disagreement. Maybe the next time your daughter-in-law is doing something you disapprove of.....keep a lid on it. "Stifle Edith"...as Archie Bunker used to say. (Loved that man)! He said so many things we would all love to say but don't dare say! Or the next time your co-worker does something that annoys you.....try to ignore them and keep on doing your best. Or if your child is throwing a hissy-fit and your usual response is to give in when they are at the 'wailing wall'.....don't pay them any attention.....walk away. They'll get the hint eventually that their negative behavior isn't getting the usual 'reward' of your undivided attention. You can do it........Gommy is pulling for you. Have a great weekend boys and girls. Hugs & Mush....Gommy
