Balancing Calm



A short few moments ago I was taking some time to quiet my mind.  I had just finished reading this blog post and was thinking about how much I could relate to the talk of learning to be calm.  I was thinking about how I am still learning how to act, rationally, with sincere and deep thought, rather than reacting through emotions.  And as the Universe seems to always do, it decided to test me in what it was just trying to teach me.

It's moments like this that I am the most thankful for.  At 40 years in, I am constantly aware.  I have never felt so aware in life as I am at this point.  All the situations I find myself faced with, whether they be simple, tough, passing or constant, I am conscious and aware.

I see the mirrors placed in front of me daily and I see my own self reflected back at me.  I take that wisdom and I thank the Creator for continuing to remind me of my own humanness.

I see the places where I could turn those mirrors around and I have been working rather hard at not doing it.  For it is not my place to point fingers and as I have learned, the Universe has a way of showing people what they need to see.  Repeatedly.  Over and over until they learn.  It's not my responsibility to do so, and if there is any lesson I am most grateful to be still learning, it is that one.

I am responsible for myself.

I am not responsible to show everyone where they fuck up.  And I can much more easily lend my compassion in those places than lend my judgment.

Judgment is not mine to give to anyone other than myself.

The following quote is from the blog post I linked to above:

"When everything falls to pieces or when someone treats me terribly or when I don’t get my way in life or when I suffer total failure…I want to remain calm.  Beyond practicing calmness, I want to find myself in the habit of immediately moving into a problem solving state of mind — I want to find myself recognizing the disaster and instead of reacting emotionally, I want to fluidly engage my ability to critically think and logically process my way through a dilemma."

This is Grace. Grace is my ultimate goal in most areas of my life.  Grace is how I would like to choose to always present myself to whatever comes in my path.  Grace is how we should all be responding to each other.

There is a very fine line in finding the balance between having that Grace and ensuring that you are appropriately heard.



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