Hari Om
Each 'Choose-day' we will investigate the process by which we can reassess our activity and interaction with the world of plurality and become more congruent within our personality.
Last week we reviewed sthuula shariira and how the choice is ours as to how that body operates. To a large extent, it is the understanding of the fact that the body is a weight upon the soul which is present in the Western tradition of 'new year resolutions'. It is the one time in every twelve months when the majority of folk give at least some thought to the fact that they need to make changes in life. The majority, however, do not make them, or in making them, find themselves straying from the resolve by the end of the first month following.
Resolution for change does not, indeed ought not, to be restricted to a single occasion or tradition. When it comes to self-improvement, at all levels of being, it is entirely up to each individual to find the resolve to make the necessary changes.
One of the biggest hurdles to jump is self-recognition. To make a change, we must first accept that there is something to be changed. If we languish in misery and are filled all the time with wishes and dreams of something other than we have or are, but without 'owning' any of it, then nothing will ever change and life will continue as something for us to complain and moan about. If, though, we see our part in the things about which we feel miserable, it is the first step to change. The next is to 'own' it; take responsibility for how we act or react to any given thing.
"OH!", the cry goes up, "this, that and the other person is the reason I can't do this; it's their fault/it's that situation…"
Justification for staying in our misery is a talent we all have. Developing the skill to climb from that pit is something we have to desire more than the comfort of staying where we are. It means, quite often, making choices between the path of least resistance and the higher road.
Yes, there can be conditions around us which are unavoidable. These are part of the colour of life, even when the colour is dark. The test is how we meet those conditions. Ten people in the same situation do not handle it, nor do they come out of it, in the same way. Some will not even make attempts at meeting the situation and striving to get through it. Others may try, but lack experience or strength to come through unscathed.
Learning how to handle ourselves in life and its situations is a key part of that very experience. It always - always - boils down to the choices we make, even when it seems there is no choice to be made.
