The other day, I had a moment of feeling small, insignificant, and even dumb. I started to say that I was made to feel, but I changed it because I’m in control of my feelings not anyone else. As I felt this way, I started worrying that in my youth and even today, I sometimes make others feel that way. Or my actions or words might have caused others to feel that way. So I felt even smaller. It broke my heart to think I hurt someone like this. And that those someones where often probably people I love deeply. The guilt set in hard.
The next morning, as I was writing in my morning pages, I found myself feeling cranky and as I wrote about it, I began to write that I was actually choosing to be cranky and that at any point I could choose to stop, and instead feel happy.
Yeah, I know, that’s easier said than done but it’s kind of true, isn’t it? We choose how we let ourselves feel, how we react. We can just as easily choose to NOT react, to let things just roll off our shoulders. We can choose to let things go, laugh them off, realize that most likely the person or situation isn’t trying to make us feel any way. It’s just happening, they’re just speaking, most likely not even thinking about how they are speaking or even what they are saying. We choose how we react to situations and people. We choose.
Instead of reacting maybe I should be looking at the words to better understand where they are coming from, what they are going through themselves. Perhaps I should look at the situation from a different perspective.
My daughter reminded me recently that “hurt people, hurt people.” Isn’t that true? Even for myself. When I’m hurting, I tend to let that hurt leak out on whatever and whoever is around me. Not intentionally, but it happens, and if it happens to me, it most likely happens to others as well. We are all the same after all.
Maybe if we approached life with this knowledge in mind, we could create a better world, a more loving world, a more kind, compassionate, and caring world. Maybe.
My Aunt Fern is the kindest, happiest person I know. I remember someone asking her how she could laugh when someone was being so blatantly mean to her and she said something like, Oh, I can’t believe anyone would be mean like that on purpose. They are just being funny. Not her exact words but it was similar in meaning.
She was basically saying that she chooses not to see it as being mean. It’s a choice. We choose how we react. We choose to let something hurt us, we choose to get angry, or upset. We choose.
Oh, I don’t think it’s always a conscious choice but it is a choice. And just as we choose to be upset, we can choose to laugh it off, to let it go. We can make the decision to look past to the words to what’s underneath and be more understanding. We can remember that, yes, hurt people, hurt people and try to love our way through it.
Yeah… I’m really talking to myself here. Let go and let love. Let love be our first reaction. My last post said, “Love your way through it.”
That’s how I try to live, Loving my way through it, but sometimes… I’m the hurt person, sometimes it’s hard… BUT if I remember that I get to choose how I feel, I get to choose how I react, then I can choose to let it go, don’t dwell on it, let it go, let go and let love.
So, I guess that’s this post in a nutshell. Let Go and Let Love. Let love lead the way. Let love rain down over you and all around you. Let love brighten the darkest corners. Let love, choose love, let it fill you to overflowing. Love for self, love for neighbor, love for strangers, love for nature, love for the world. Let go and let Love lead the way. Let love be you guiding light. Let love be the lens you look at all things.
Okay, enough cliches.
Until next time… ♥️
Simply Sherri 