Friday, February 17, 2012

Home On the Range*

"And the skies are not cloudy all day."


I love that song.  Not sure how I feel about buffalos, but the idea of blue sky and antelope and deer playing is pretty cool. The most important is "where seldom is heard a discouraging word." The opposite--talking about ones troubles-- is what I think of as "trash talk."    (Today's blog is going "deep and philosophical."  Hit "delete" at any time you can't hold on for the full ride. Just wanted to warn you.)




From where I see it, we are the designers of our own stuff.  "Stuff" is created in this order:  thought, word, deed.  So these words we are throwing around everyday all day are already two-thirds of the way there.  By the time it gets out of our mouth, this recipe is ready for the oven, all but cooked, nearly a done deal.

So check yourself.  What are you "cooking" in that mouth of yours so far today? If you spent any time describing what is normally going on around you, likely it's full of misery and despair.  Talk about "discouraging words!"  By giving it breath and sound, we've helped create more of the same.  We do not need to describe what we see or have been through with such detail.

Though more effort and certainly not habit, if we could spend our words creating images of what we want to have happening in our lives, the results would amaze us.  Blissful Things I get to do today (and you, too, if you like) are look for, find, and focus on everything that is going right and find the courage and the words to speak only that.  Dr. Higley didn't go for trash talk!   And I bet I could get used to buffalos.

*Lyrics by Dr. Brewster Higley (1876)






6 comments:

  1. Did you watch Master Co's video lecture last night? He said Master Duwal Kul (spelling?) said the word h-a-t-e should not be any any spiritual aspirant's vocabulary. Interesting. I have managed to cut way back on my potty mouth over the years, noticing it just feels bad to say nasty words. I get the yucky feeling right before it's about to come out--enough time to stop myself--so I USUALLY do :) At the spiritual vacation last summer, Master Marilag asked a clairvoyant in the audience to watch while a volunteer went to the front and said a string of bad words. He said it looked like dirty black stuff coming out of her mouth and falling onto the floor. Hmmm!

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    1. Somewhere in my library of books there is one that is full of provocative healing words, and in that book is the clever reminder of how we develop as people, rather like your "recipe" for "stuff," andrea. A quick check of the books stashed by my bed, but no luck in finding that book with that quote; i will find it and i will share it. In the meantime, I will share a little exercise that helps me when I'm feeling full of self-pity: List 20 -- or 50, or, 1000 -- wonderful things that entered my life just at the right time, with no effort on my part. Start with the little things (oxygen, sunlight, coffee, friends ((as though any of those things are truly little!)); soon I will think of bigger ones and 1,000 will not be enough space!

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    2. Thank you, Meghan, for including this helpful energetic information and image. We are SO powerful with our thoughts and words!

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    3. Thank you, Karen, for this lovely exercise. I'll use it myself. And keep looking for that book!

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    4. found the book, found the quote:

      The thought manifests as the word;
      The word manifests as the deed;
      The deed develops into habit;
      And habit hardens into character;
      So watch the thought and its ways with care,
      And let it spring from love
      Born out of concern for all beings.

      -- The Buddha

      no doubt you knew this quote already but your interpretation make its many uses apparent.

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    5. Thank you, Karen, for your persistence on this thought. I had not read this before and will now print it out in big letters for a constant reminder.

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