Good Morning Digital Neighbors & Friends! Happy Thursday to all! Thank you all for your thoughtfulness regarding Jacksons, I appreciate all the well wishes, prayers and empathy. I am sure I will be posting about Jackson and Holly again in the future. Let's listen to Mr. Jung a little bit more this morning and look at a beautiful barn or some other mixture of Mother Nature complimenting our humble efforts of construction.
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.
It is far better to take things as they are. Acceptance is such a key to happier and healthy living. While it is easy to talk about it is not easy to practice. It is so easy to confuse acceptance with resignation. While they look similar at the beginning of an experience, acceptance leads to peace and hope while resignation leads to despair and apathy. Acceptance does not mean we just float along living a life free of effort and devoid of growth. Acceptance as I experience it is a wrestling with reality as I discern what I can and can't change. Any of you 12 Steppers out there know the drill. 😉
My personal cocktail of peace is built on a a foundation of faith. If you don't believe in something greater than yourself, I am not sure how you ever pursue sustained growth that allows you to discern your strengths and address your shortcomings. You don't have to believe in a deity, but if not something ought to be more; higher goals, systems, virtues, a better life or world for yourself or those you love.
My faith as a Catholic is not without personal question and criticism, any individual or community should be able to withstand either. Killing your critics and silencing your questioners is a sign of a decaying system, that needs to be reformed or abandoned. No community is free from decay or corruption because no individual is. I know, obvious, but some think there is some magical system, religion or science out there that fixes it all. Good luck and don't forget to look for where the bodies are hidden if they are not open about the putting the outliers to death.
From that foundation I do my best to built it up with gratitude, humor and a desire for greater clarity and acceptance of reality. The clarity and acceptance part is under constant refinement since being wrong, mistaken and ignorant is a reoccurring experience for myself and many of us. One of the fruits of my personal system of striving for clarity is a refined sense of expectation. The reality of unspoken expectations, exaggerated expectations and imposed expectations taints relationships. Expectations are real, and many go unaddressed because they work for the good of all in a family, workspace or community. As you become aware of expectations, the questioning of them is either an invitation to understanding or change. BEWARE - those who like the status quo are not in favor of change. I am not saying you should not have any expectations, but having clarity about them is better than not knowing they exist and still living under the trials they will create. Enough ramblings - Happy Thursday my friends!
Meanwhile in Ireland
