REMEMBERING

Oops, they did it again.
This person once again
did not live up to my expectations.
Once again I found myself frustrated
and not wanting to have anything
to do with them.
Then I remembered this is about me
and my expectations.
They never agreed to them,
I just expected them to do so.

Perhaps more importantly
I was allowing this one thing,
this one experience to make me
forget all the good they had done.
I had to work at remembering
the good things,
the times they were present,
the moments they were affirming, and
the moments they lived up to my expectations.

I am sure there are moments,
intentionally or not,
that I have not lived up to someone’s expectations.,
or that I have hurt their feelings,
and made someone forget
all the times I was loving,
nurturing,
and kind.
May we remember the goodness
in the wake of the pain.
May we remember for others
as we would like others to remember
about us.

FIESTA MIX LESSONS

This evening, one of the women who came for Love and Inspiration, brought a bag of Fiesta Mix she had picked up at the store. Fiesta Mix, for those who have never had it, is a combination of pretzels, Cheetos, and two kinds of tortilla chips. I guess you could say it is a junk food party in your mouth. When she first brought the bag, it seemed like your ordinary bag of mixed snacks.

As our discussion about things happening in our life progressed, I realize that even something as simple as this mixed bowl of snacks had a powerful lesson to share.

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FORGIVE YOURSELF

Forgiving others is one thing. Forgiving ourselves is another. It seems as if every day I become mindful of yet another piece of poison, as Don Miguel Ruiz would call them, that I somehow internalized as a child and have been living with for decades. The lies were all a part of my domestication to the planet. As we evolve and grow, we become mindful of those lies which we no longer agree to and which we must replace in our lives.

Removing them from our lives is one part of the process of healing and evolving. The other part is forgiving ourselves for internalizing them in the first place. Most of these lies, we may not have even realized were lies when we first internalized them. We just ate them because we were told they were good for us.

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