Life is complicated.
Right?
Or is it?
So much talk about society programming us from childhood, so much about being forced to be who we are not, so much about fighting to break free of the bonds that prevent us being who we truly are … so much … so much … so much.
In fact … so much that I am fatigued by it, and I am disappointed at the blame and the lack of responsibility.
I made choices. Full stop. I made choices in how to interact with groups of people, as a child and as an adult, based upon the experience I desired to have. No one forced me. No matter how many times you try to tell me they did, you will be wrong … I made my own choices. I always have. Sometimes they were bad choices, sometimes good, but always, always they were a part of my journey.
My parents were wonderful parents. They loved us unconditionally and we knew that. They allowed us to grow into who we desired to be and did not push or bully, demand or manipulate. They just loved us and let us find our way.
At school I experienced the desire to fit in. Gosh that was interesting. Wanting people to like me. All a part of the human journey. I got to learn all sorts of stuff at school. I was interested, fascinated. I loved new exercise books and fresh pencils and pens. I loved to write, I loved to read. I loved play time. I loved my morning tea and lunch snack which my mother had prepared for me (homemade cake or biscuits, and sandwiches for lunch).
As I grew up I learnt more about social interactions, and the kinds of people I got along well with and those I did not. I got to observe other peoples and other ways of living. It was all a learning experience and, again, part of my life journey.
I got my first job, and got to experience the responsibility of being a working adult. I took pride in the work I did, and I still do, many years and several different jobs later. I raised children, took care of my family.
No one ever tried to force me to be who I am not. Society did not pressure me. Society did the best it could based upon the information it had. People did the best they did, based upon the information and training they had. We learn to be parents by watching our own parents. No not everyone had a great upbringing, not everyone had great parents, but again … so much is a part of a journey that we chose before we commenced this lifetime, and also that we chose along the way.
All the confusion and the blame. Why? What does it gain? It causes pain and confusion, it makes others feel so powerful when people they look up to go on and on about the terrible state of the world, they blame, they are angry, or they are in ‘poor me’ attention seeking mode, ‘pity me’, or ‘look at how great and noble I am.’ Please stop. You are not helping. You are hindering the journey that people are completely free to walk.
You will tell me ‘but we are oppressed’ … ‘but you do not know’ … ‘but you had it easy’ … ‘but you have not lived my life’. … And fair call. But, your life is your life. My life is my life, and you don’t actually know much about my life because it is private and I do not share. I walk my journey, often, in silence, I deal with situations in silence and privacy.
Are we oppressed or have we chosen this journey prior to birth? We are here because we chose to be. Did we choose it so that we could complain endlessly about it? Or did we choose it so that we could bring peace and love to a world in need of peace and love?
We do not create a world of peace and love by complaining about its lack, or by venting about our problems, or about making it all complicated.
It is very simple!
To create a world of peace and love, we LIVE a life of peace and love. We take the journey we have walked, and all the lessons and learning along the way, and we choose peace, and we choose love.
Everything we do, everything we say, every breath we take, every action we take, is done in peace and love.
It is not complicated. Let go of everything that is not peace and love … just put it down, a burden you never needed to carry.
‘But you don’t understand, my mother is dying’ you say …. My mother died too, of cancer, aged 57, and we were all with her, loving her, there as she took her last breath, for two days we barely left her side. I love her with all my heart and I am so grateful to her. My father died, his daughters holding him as he slipped away of old age. He was 88 and he was ready to go. I love him with all my heart too, he was my confidant. And I am so grateful to him.
I have lost friends, through death and through separations of journeys, and I am grateful to them for all I learned for the many gifts shared between us. But … I do not carry grief, I do not carry regrets, I see it all as part of my journey, and all of the choices agreed to and made alone the way.
Do not live in the past. Live in this moment and rejoice in this moment. See the beauty and feel the beauty all around you.
Live with so much gratitude for all things. Yes you probably have a thousand excuses for why you can’t and for why I am wrong … but am I wrong? Maybe. Maybe not.
What I do know is: If I want peace in the world I must BE that PEACE. And if I want love in the world I must BE that LOVE.
It is that simple.
No one programmed you, put you in a box, bound you with regulations. You chose a journey, so that you could experience so many things. So let go of the burdens you hold so tight to, let it all go. Don’t be a martyr. Just be the love and peace the world needs.