A Choice in Perception

The following is a letter that was sent from Gordon Rosenberg to our Reiki list . I have asked him if I can share it with you as I felt it has a beautiful message:

I am reminded of something a spiritual teacher once said when asked on national TV about all the problems in the world. "What problems?" he replied.

I believe the implication here is that the world is just the world, full of all the glory and challenges that it is. Perhaps, all is really perfect and the really important part is our perception of it. I know, for me, I often get into a funk in which I think it's a pretty lousy place to be.

Then I see the gorgeous red blossoms coming out on the camellia next door, or the sun shining on the snow-laden Cascade mountains across the water, and there is the realization that all is really as it is--and that my perception of it all comes and goes with each breath.

Maybe the challenge is to see everything as it is, without judging it all, and not to be so concerned about the fact that we can't change it. I know that there's little I can do to change the world--and a lot I can do to change me! Everything outside of me is just too much to deal with. I'm just one little tiny soul in the midst of all this. Yet this doesn't stop me from doing all I can to change me, or perhaps more accurately put, to help me live more fully here and to enjoy the world to the fullest while I do.

This isn't to deny that there is plenty of negativity happening here, for certainly there is. But just to recognize that it's not my job to fix everything, or even to worry about what I can't fix. For in my humble opinion, worry is about as useless a preoccupation as trying to fix something.

Walk gently here, my friends, there is nothing broke about this place. It just keeps on turning, we each keep on being who were are, and all keeps growing, in spite of each one of us and our miseries.

Another quote comes to me, from a wonderful CD entitled "Nomad."

"With your face turned toward the light, you can't see the shadow."

Be well, everyone.

Namaste, Gordon

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