I go to a gym as most of us do. And the thing I remark about the gym is as we are pumping away, lifting weights, running around, etcetera, we are not very gentle with ourselves. We really are not. And most of the time as well, we’re on a phone, so we’re also not giving our mind any rest at all. So we have the endurance of a harsh physical workout, and the mind is not resting either.
You know, can’t we take a few moments to give ourselves a break and be a little bit gentle with ourselves? Take a walk in a park, Put the electronic gadget away and just feel the wind blowing upon our face. Hear the bugs and the bees flittering by. Listen to the wind rustling in the trees. Why not?
And I think that a lot of us truly suffer in the modern world because we are overly ambitious. We are going somewhere, but, of course, that somewhere doesn’t exist, does it? All that exists is the now. Right now, I’m here today. I’m right now at this moment.
And just maybe in the next moment, I won’t be here. This is exceptionally true, especially true if you’re 68 years old like I am. I remarked on something the other day that was said to me many years ago, and that is with all the pain and suffering that I’m enduring, none of it would matter at all if I wasn’t here. If I were to be dead, it wouldn’t matter. There would be no pain and suffering.
Therefore, I can manage all of this and the way I’m going to do this is from time to time to be gentle with myself. And I think one will find that that begins to calm my soul. I’d like to read a short bit from the poem, Desiderata by Max Ehrman. I believe it was published in 1927. Desiderata meaning, of course, thinking about something that we’re yearning for or deeply desiring for. So here we are. A bit of the poem.
“Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt, the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.”
So the next time you’re really frustrated, think of this poem and take yourself out of your comfort zone into a different space, that space of peace. If you really want to meditate, in fact, you don’t need anything elaborate. All you need to do is just sit down in a chair and begin to focus on your breathing.
And the monkey thoughts will, of course, come to you and bounce around. Just push them away and slowly feel your breath and learn to relax. Be gentle with yourself because the battle is before you, and you don’t know what it will be because it is all created in your mind. And what actually will eventually occur probably will be totally different. So be gentle with yourself.
And you know what they say, you know what they say, critical thinking is important, especially if you want to learn to be gentle with yourself from time to time and critical thinking is great, truly great. You take care. God bless. Bye bye.