Detox – Mental Adjustment (Note 5 of 6)

[David Ashanti]

As we journey through our lives, we interacted with thousands of people, some we never gets to know, like the person who sat next to you in a train or the person who sold you a ticket at the cinema.

Many, however, left marks in our life; these moments of

* Joy and distress
* Happy and sad
* Envy and resentment
* Jealousy and admiration
* Hope and fear
* Satisfaction and remorse
* Relief and disappointment
* Shame and pride
* Gratitude and anger
* Love and hate
* Jealousy and gratification

They may be parents, siblings, children, blood relations, friends, enemies, teachers, students, colleagues, husband and wife. Most people would have you believe that they are the most balance person you ever had the privilege to meet. When I finally able to convince them to have the courage to look within, and place names in the appropriate boxes that contains all the above emotions, the history of their lives started to tell a different story.

It is not surprising to witness the emotions displayed on their faces as each story is recalled and they relive through that particular historical event once again. It is easy to say forgive, forget and mending bridges. In practice, it is near impossible. No one will readily pick up the phone in front of me and take the first step to apologize to someone who they acknowledged to have injured and hurt without a lot of soul searching.

The fact is, we are all stuck in this “winners and losers” mentality. We were conditioned since childhood that winning is everything, not many people will go to the losers can congratulate them for taking part or being a good sport. We glorify the persons with the shinny medals. Team work is only the word to keep everyone down while the leader permanently stayed way on top.

In order to break free of these earthly bindings, one has to elevate above and understand that we are in this life time only for a relatively short time. The experiences and challenges we face are part of our creator’s design to teach us humanity and to further our maturity in spiritual development. If stress can be quantified in unit of measure, every memory that carried a negative feeling represents several unit of stress. A person could potentially be weighted down with these stress units to the extend that will cause the physical body to enter a sick and depress mode.

One should adopt the view that these people appeared in your personal stage of life, playing the role necessary in order that your “center stage performance” is enhanced to the full. At some stage, you may have to bow to your audiences and thanks all these supporting actors and actresses for making your show a success. Every show is a success, regardless it is a comedy, a drama, or a musical, make an effort, thank everyone who touched your life for being there and that is the beginning of your healing.

[Melody]

Yes, that's true. We do need to honor the "performances" from our past. Learn as much as possible from it. Both good and bad. Bow to the audiences and do a "stage right". Exit and be done with it. We are not the same people we were during those past "perfornances" so it is important to "grow out of the them" and continue to develop ourselves. Without the losers, there would be no winners. They play an important part in the scheme of things. Just the fact that they chose to participate is worthy of a shiny medal and the only person who can really honor you is YOU. In knowing and in wisdom, we rise above all these material challenges. It is important just to be and not to worry about trying to be something. The reward is best when it is done like Susan Boyle, the singer. She just wanted to perform in front of an audience. Once she was done, her mission was complete. It was for none other than herself. She was about to take a "stage right" and leave. Mission complete. She had forgotten it was a competition. She won kudos anyways. Those experiences are the best. When the competition does not exist in our minds but that we do for the sake of doing for our own enjoyment.