Patience...

I am becoming keenly aware that life has a funny way of making sure you really understand a lesson before you move on from it. My current lesson is patience. This is what I have focused on the past few days: being patient in the here and now . . . no matter what the circumstance. I am in a stage in life where there is so much I want to be different, whether it is simply healing from this nagging cough I've had for over two weeks, or as important as the complete healing of past hurts in a relationship. I am learning that being patient through the process is part of what brings us the outcome.

When our bodies are sick, in order to be well, we must promote healing with rest, nourishment, sometimes medicine. When we are wanting a specific outcome or result in a situation, we must also get comfortable with the process. We must do good work in the interim, learning how to be the person we need to be in order to be successful with that intended result. Otherwise we will be incapable of flourishing in the new because we failed to learn what we needed to move away from the old. We can get so hell-bent on wanting what we think we deserve, what we think we need, that we forget to recognize what it is life is trying to teach us in order to give us that want or need. We must take the opportunity to be patient and focus on what is required to transform us from this to that.

So in life's amazing way of helping us to really see what it is that we are missing, sometimes you just get dealt the right card. In my case it was the "patience" card, literally, in my Osho Zen Tarot Deck. Bam! Life said, "here, Cheryl, let me just write it out for you verbatim." The following is an excerpt from the commentary:

". . . now is a time when all that is required is to be simply alert, patient, waiting. 

We have forgotten how to wait; it is almost an abandoned space. And it is our greatest treasure to be able to wait for the right moment. The whole existence waits for the right moment. Even trees know it-- when it is time to bring the flowers and when it is time to let go of all the leaves and stand naked against the sky. They are still beautiful in that nakedness, waiting for the new foliage with a great trust that the old has gone, and the new will soon be coming . . .

We have forgotten to wait, we want everything in a hurry. It is a great loss to humanity . . . In silence and waiting something inside you goes on growing -- your authentic being. And one day it jumps and becomes a flame, and your whole personality is shattered; you are a new man."

I am challenging myself to be patient and learn what it is that I've missed in order to move from where I no longer wish to be to the greatness that is ahead. I am challenging myself to not be in a hurry to get there but to spend the time, to be thankful for the time, to grow and acquire and transform completely. I'm not ready yet for what is not in the now. My present is perfect even without the results I am looking forward to in the future. This is a beautiful time...

 

In Pursuit of Happiness...

I discovered a great site today: The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin's blog recounting her daily adventures in pursuit of happiness.

What brought me to the site was her post on personal commandments. Rubin developed a set of 12 personal commandments, overarching principles by which she tries to live her life. Taking months to assemble, Rubin reveals the depth of thought that went into compiling this list. The post includes her list as well as her insight on how best to create one for yourself.

Happiness is a choice. It has been my own personal commitment to discover the true meaning of happiness over the past few months. What I have found through my own meditations and readings is that happiness is not something you hope to achieve through any accumulation of things, arrival at a predetermined station in life, or relationship. Happiness is an inward journey. I've realized that happiness is always there for you to choose no matter your circumstance.

Having a set of individual commandments is a wonderful way to keep you on track, however. The key is to dig deep and really personalize this set of commitments to yourself to avoid falling into the old habits that have kept you from happiness in the past.

My first inclination is to compile my list in this moment and publish it with this post. I am fighting that urge in favor of allowing myself the proper time, meditation, and thought to truly come up with a set of life-enhancing, happiness-driven principles to apply to my life. I will be working on this and will share it at the right time. I wrote about patience not too long ago. Learning how to be patient in a process is challenging but much more rewarding. Being patient with yourself, allowing yourself the proper time to achieve a goal, is directly correlated to your success in that goal. I can't imagine any goal more important than happiness. I choose to live my life happy. I want to spread happiness in all that I do. I want my children to see me happy and I want them to be happy.

"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." - Martha Washington