Hi boys and girls. Yep...Goms has her thinking cap on again today. Something came up recently that made Gommy think about the title of this blog. Turn it Around.....could mean any number of things....but Gommy is using the concept to mean 'there are two ways to look at something'. There are probably several ways to look at any given situation....but there are always at least two ways.
Take for example, the idea of an argument. If there are two people involved in the tussle....then there are obviously two schools of thinking about the thing they are disagreeing about. Right? If we could, somehow, put ourselves in the other persons' shoes, so to speak, we may loosen our grasp (or grip) on thinking that just our way of thinking about the issue at hand is the ONLY way to look at it.
'Turn it Around' could also apply to when we have something to do that is distasteful, or that we have gotten ourselves into a situation and we wished we hadn't or we find ourselves in a scenario that we feel we have been pushed into. If we try to look (and sometimes we have to really dig at it) to find some redeeming value in doing the nasty thing we have to do.....or see a benefit somewhere for ourselves in doing it...or think of how something good may come of it after all....we may just be able to re-frame how we are feeling about it. Some of you are probably too young...but there was an old song that applies here...."Look for the Silver Lining." Get it???
If we have agreed to something that we weren't entirely 'on board' with, but did so to keep the peace.....and we find that we just can't seem to 'drink the whole glass of kool-aid'....then we may just have to put the experience in our pile marked - "Lesson Learned." And if we have indeed learned the 'lesson', then the next time something comes along that we can 'feel' a bit of that deja' vu sense of, "Oh no you don't... or Oh no you di-ent", we can now have that auto-reflex (also known as the hair on the back of your neck rising.....or a gut-wrenching in your innermost psyche), come to the foreground and stop us in our tracks before we have another 'lesson' to learn. If we are very slow learners....guess what?....you will be put back in the 'class' until you have thoroughly and completely learned your 'lesson'. SORRY :-(
If the same argument is with your significant other and it seems to be coming up all the time......you have to try to 'flip' it or reverse roles and try to see your partners' side of the issue. Gommy wants to interject here though that there are usually three sides in most spousal or relationship arguments.....His - Hers - and THE TRUTH (or hers/hers and the truth or his/his and the truth....don't want to leave anyone out here peeps).... but sorry boys and girls....that is just the way it is. We can usually only see our side of the situation....but to be fair....we have to see how the other person views the disagreement. Now, this is a hard one because you have to be with the other person ALOT.....you can't avoid them as you might be able to do at work, or a friend who is disagreeable or a customer that you won't have to contend with once your business with them is concluded. Your spouse or spousal equivalent is ALWAYS right there....right there in your face.....yapping, yapping, yapping their side of the issue. OOPS....Goms got off on a tangent there. Sorry. ;-]]]]]
Another biggie that Gommy thinks about all the time is the way organized religions all over the world think that only their religion is the right one. What's up with that? Well....Gommy chooses to flip that one too. Fair is fair....For example....Gommy started thinking about the one belief in a certain religion that says that unless you are baptized you will not get into heaven. Really? Seriously? Is God really that petty that He will not allow someone into His Kingdom because they haven't had the luxury of being baptized? Or because they don't wear a burka or a veil covering their face? Or we don't think a cow is sacred. Or because they spoke His name in vain? If that is so, there are many parents out there who have disowned their children because little Jimmy or Jane has told them at one time or another...."I hate you!!!" OOPS, gotcha' there.....we still love them because they are our children. Just as we are ALL God's children.
What about the person who lives in the remotest part of the world and has never been to a Church or a Synagogue or a Mosque....who has never had any outside contact with the civilized world? Do they get a pass? Now wait just a doggone minute here...that would make God a God that takes sides....Don't think so peeps. God does not have an ego.....God does not punish people for things out of their control. We can't have it both ways people. If God is the magnificent, benevolent, forgiving.....loving.....omnisciencent God, that Goms believes He is....He will love everyone the same and not punish those who didn't follow the doctrine of religions (who have many man made rules that were made up as they went anyhow) or who haven't gone to church with a covering on their head, or worked on the Sabbath, or agreed to having a blood transfusion to save their life or the life of a loved one, or prayed for eighteen hours everyday.....and on and on.
God gave us free will to live our lives in a joyous way. We were given all the beauty, blissful experiences, people and tools to ALLOW us to be happy. The mistakes we make are of our own doing. God didn't make anything happen 'to us'. If bad stuff is happening to us, we did it all to ourselves. We brought it to us ourselves. Gommy knows this is a very hard 'pill to swallow' and it is too complicated to go into on this blog today.....maybe another time...or maybe not. We all have to come to our beliefs at our own speed and when WE are ready. You know the old saying....."You can bring a horse to water....but you can't make him drink." We each come to our own beliefs in our own time.....and not one second sooner.
Now on to a less 'touchy' subject. The essence of enjoying our lives is to be happy. Don't make waves when we don't have to. That isn't to say we should become 'doormats' either. But stop sweating the small stuff....and in reality.....it is mostly all small stuff. Try to see other aspects or sides to the 'lessons' we seemingly keep having put in front of us. Ask yourself, "Is this worth any extra precious time I have to dwell on it?" We only have a certain amount of time allotted to us on this journey....use it well. Don't throw it away. ENJOY....there is soooooo much out there to be grateful for.....if you just look with your heart instead of your head sometimes.
Lesson for today.....Look for other ways to 'learn your lessons' by seeing that our perspectives are narrow, only if we refuse to step back and see the bigger picture. It is ALL good peeps. Try to fit in as the observer sometimes and not be the WIZARD of all things... all of the time! Remember that we don't get do-overs, we can't delete problems, skip a challenge that must be faced, or avoid all of the unpleasant situations of life.....but we can try to "Look for the Silver Lining' in them if possible. Have a great day boys and girls....you can do it....Gommy is pulling for you. Hugs & Mush, Gommy
