Balance

We have the tendency to take things to extremes. We have the tendency to see our lives as either "all good" or "all bad." We say things to ourselves and outloud to others like - "I will never get things right," "It always happens this way," " They are always so selfish," and "Nothing ever goes right." When we do this to ourselves we cause ourselves more pain than what is really happening. When you really look at life, your life, how many things can you truly classify in those types of extremes - always, never, nothing - most of life is really one of balance between extremes. There are people, places, and events in our lives that are not the way we would like them at times and just the way we would like them at times. However, we use those times (good or bad) to define our whole life, who we are as a person, and what will happen in the future.

We all want things to be good all the time. We want people around us to be good always. We never want to hurt. We never want to be without nothing. This leaves us dissapointed - a lot!
Life is really lived and lived well in balance. Realizing that things are what they are - sometimes good, sometimes bad. We do it well sometimes and other times we make mistakes. Things that happen to us are left up to expereince and perceive. We make our own expereince of life and it can be one of pain and anger or one of hopefulness and joy. If we do not have a thought life that is in balance and rather focuses on extremes our life will be one that will see more pain, anger and hoplessness. If our thought life is in balance we can see more hopefulness, joy, and happiness. Albert Einstein is credited with saying that everyone has to make the choice to decide if they live in a hotile or a friendly universe.

I personally choose to believe that I live in a friendly universe ruled by a loving Creator. Are there things that happen to me that I do not like, do not understand - of course. Can I overcome them - transcend them - by living in connection to God through my thoughts and live a life that is in the middle of God's will - most definitely!

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Philippians 4:6-8

I think that Socrates said that the unexamined life is not a life worth living. Examine your life today. Do you live in extremes? Does your thought life have more always and nevers than you would like? Examine your thought life, catch yourself feeling a way that you do not like and aske yourself, "What was I just thinking." I guarantee that you will find some extreme. Get silent with God and let the Creator diplace your worry by changing your thoughts. Live a life of balance.

Namaste'