Sticking to our Guns

Very often we just to not feel like doing something. It can be a chore, attending a meeting, or fulfilling a promise. Yet somehow, we either keep postponing, or our minds insist on trying to find a reason, or excuse, not to do it. It is akin to the little angel on the left shoulder, urging us on, and the little devil on the right shoulder, holding us back.

Some times this is just procrastination. Other times there is an underlying psychological problem, which produces the block. Mostly though, it is practical considerations, which the ego-mind then tries to rationalize in a very complicated way. Maybe we just do not feel like it, or we have an early meeting the next day, in which we need to focus, or the budgy is sick, or we have exhausted our budget, and need to conserve our resources.

The ten thousand babbling idiots then enter with a vengeance, trying to construct the most credible excuse, while they attempt to validate our own insecure position. And off we go on a mental tangent, concocting with alacrity the little white lies that the ego-mind helps us to rationalize, re-construct and re-invent, until it is satisfied that we can get away with it.

Bingo. We have just created a pitfall for ourselves. As we pick up the phone to excuse ourselves, we mumble and stutter, and the truth is out. Or, as we are phoned by someone else, to whom we have made a promise, we mumble and stutter and we have successfully discredited ourselves.

Do we ever learn from this? Mostly, no. We simply amble along with our ingrained behavior patterns and aversions mindlessly, not taking any cognizance of what we have created. And it is not our fault, mostly. We block this knowledge out. We become unconscious to its existence, as we are being protected by the ego self. Through guilt the conscious self eventually intervene, and we cannot stare that person in the face, or the ego rationalizes it away again.

I wonder sometimes if we know what damage we do. Quite simply, if we have made a promise, we have created expectancy, or concluded a contract. Breaking the contract, invokes the law of Cause and Effect. And promises can also take the form of innuendo’s, like, yes, I am interested in you, inviting closer romantic contact, created by need, only to find out later that the interest has waned unexpectedly. Now we have broken a heart.

And do we really know how these mindless little actions will affect the other party? How many promises they may have made that relies on our promise? How they may be in need of love and affection? And how it is going to affect us and them? No, not really, as we try to ignore it. By doing that, we create future discomfort for ourselves and other people, as we invoke negative emotions and maybe ensuing disagreements and conflict.

Why can we not just be honest?

Information allows us to alter our plans, make other arrangements. Phone, say how you feel. The budgy is sick. I have no petrol money. I don’t love you. Even though we or the other party may be confronted by disappointment, we have given a true reason for our actions. We have allowed other options to be explored, and created freedom, in the ensuing aftermath. And just maybe that person will understand your position. If not, well, at least you have tried.

Honesty and integrity goes hand in hand. Together they form a bond of trust. Trust breeds respect. Respect breeds loyalty. And loyalty breeds Love, in whatever manifestation.

So let us practice truth, as this creates honesty and integrity, which are the building blocks for emotional and personal freedom.

In the context of this little wisdom, if you do not owe anyone anything, you are free to express the Authentic Self.

Much Love and Light