“Be happy. It really annoys negative people.” Ricky Gervais
You know, I was just thinking. When I thought about that for an opening line, it immediately struck me as ridiculous. I am almost always thinking and that’s just how it goes. While we are on the subject, it is less important what you think about and more important, how you think about whatever is on your mind at the moment. So many of us are so angry about what is going on, we give ourselves no time to step back from the connection.
It really depends upon what you choose to do with a thought. What emotions are you going to slap on a particular consideration? Somehow, facts seem to change based on our peculiar perception of them. These days, everything is construed as a conspiracy of some kind. I think the less we trust ourselves, the more likely we are victimized by our very own pretzel logic.
This is on my mind a little more than usual, because of my last story. A couple of people said some very moving things about this one. Sure, I like to think I am being read, but it never felt like a kind of responsibility before, humility always short circuiting any thoughts like that. If some of you react to my stories, I can certainly react to your comments. I have never been interested in breeding negativity, plus that word turf is already heavily populated anyway.
The Right has nurtured distrust and anger amongst its legions. This manipulation began decades ago, even longer. By casting doubt on authority, a smokescreen is created, allowing the perpetrators of this deception to implement their own agenda. When your choices are ruled from without, the sought after freedom is an illusion.
It is relatively easy to be against something, requiring very little thought, border line visceral. Negativity requires so much less effort than positivity. Personally, I much prefer a sunrise to a train wreck. The former makes you think and the latter only causes a reaction.
We have so much more in common than we think, but it requires some work to get there. I subscribe to mailings from the Pew Research Center, a reputable and apolitical outfit that’s been conducting fascinating surveys for years. It is amazing to see how many basic, life issues cross over to all of us. Nobody bothers to take the time to discover and share our commonality. Our political system has grown increasingly corrupt and it doesn’t seem to discriminate between liberal or conservative when it comes to the soul kiss of the dollar.
When I sit quietly each morning, my mind slows down, because I stop feeding it, not reacting, just observing. It’s like you eliminate the “I”, allowing one thought to be followed by another. They aren’t good or bad, they are just this amalgam of disparate thoughts. Sometimes, it’s like running out of mind gas and you kind of stall right where you are. You become the observer, stepping outside yourself, watching what happens.
Once off the cushion, it becomes all about stimulus and response, passivity giving way to activity, all between the ears. I want to spend a little time with the time in between. Every one of us have the power to go where we want to. While we really can’t influence what comes in, we can direct our response to reflect the kind of person we are.
I know I take all these fucken detours in my writing, but I like to let my mind go wherever it wants. We all do it and why would I want to be any different? Just like yours, the ink on the script of my life never has a chance to dry. In that spirit, I recently read about the Swainson’s thrush, nesting in the forests of Alaska and then flying 5,600 miles to northern South America. It provided a way around the wall I was feeling with this story.
I want to go back to the cushion for just a second. When you get up from quietly sitting, you physically reenter the world. It is also one of those in-between moments, when you can pause and think about how you want to walk. Thich Nhat Hanh focused an inordinate amount of energy and attention on how we walk, injecting a consciousness into a seemingly mindless effort.
The story of the Swainson’s thrush captured my attention. It pulled me away from this work in progress, reminding me of the Middle Way, metaphorically walking between all the distractions, regardless of their positivity or negativity. We spend so much of our time feeling pushed and pulled by forces outside of our control. I found the power I have been looking for in this story. A bird can actually fly 5,600 miles! I know I found it, because I am staring at the words on the screen, fingers paralyzed, cotton in my throat, tears in my eyes……………………
Is there any antidote for the ugly, invasive barrage of news that seems to find all of us, no matter how we try to hide? It gets stuck like a wishbone in our throats, before we’ve even made a wish. We can snap it with our thoughts. We can snap it with how we choose to walk, seeking out the Middle Way. A bird can actually fly 5,600 miles!
It seems a little crazy to bring up something as mundane as the aforementioned Pew Research Center, but what the fuck? The world we want for our self, shared by millions, needs to be the world we want for others. Right now, hope and despair are at war with each other and we are the battle field. I think about my grandson and what I say to him about this stuff. He is the reason I write and why hope is my mantra. It is not a Big Hope, it is a small hope.
It is about that moment we all have, that in-between time. It is about what matters to you and how that can change the world. It is about reversing the flow, refusing to be carried by the currents of fear and despair. The strength of conviction, what matters to you, has a power that cannot be extinguished from without. When I think about what some of you have shared with me, it empowers me to dig deeper into my heart.
This is what I found.
Thank you.
LISTEN TO IT HERE:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1292459/episodes/17211859-the-face-of-the-world