Wow, how much better would life be if we could all get judged by our intentions instead of our actions, eh? Sorry for the long pause between posts… I have been a bit under the weather… but, of course, I MEANT to post, so that should count, right????

And, therein, lies most of the drama from conflicts past…. back to the days of “create-a-crisis”… I MEANT to do my homework, really! I MEANT to call you back, really! And, I really really really really meant to pay you back that money! What’s the problem?

I never realized how much of life’s comforts come from being able to “look the world in the eye”… it wasn’t until I started the spiritual journey that I really began to worry about my word being worth something. At age 29, I learned to be where I said I would be, when I said I would be there… not that my parents didn’t attempt to instill that value, it just seemed so…well…. square!! Who wants to be like their parents!

Nearly always my epiphanies are of the ‘hindsight’ variety. I began to be where I said I would be, and do what I said I would do, not really thinking a whole lot about it, other than the fact that I was tired of living the way I was living and this was a suggested change by someone whose opinion I cherished.

Fast forward two years… I was on my way in somewhere to shoot a quick game of pool with a friend – as we got to the doorway, he stopped cold and said “I really don’t want to be in here right now, can we go somewhere else?” Not a problem, we relocated our game to another venue – but then he asked me what I thought about it – and the words that came out of my mouth were as much of a surprise to me as they were to him…. I said “It just makes me grateful that I don’t have to live like that any more!”

At that moment, I realized it had been nearly two years since I needed to turn and go the other way when I saw someone in a room I was entering. It had been nearly two years since I had needed to cross the street, or duck into a store, to avoid someone. It had been nearly two years since I felt the pit of my stomach drop when I opened my mail, or answered my phone (no caller ID back in those days!).  And for whatever reason, I realized that the REASON I hadn’t needed to do any of that was simply because I had been doing what I said I would do (including paying back money), being where I said I would be, and making amends for past wrongs in those areas.

What a freedom to be able to go anywhere, and do anything – and it was as simple as bringing my actions into line with my intentions…. One of my favorite sayings (now) is: “what you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say”….. it’s a good reminder for daily living… what would I be telling people, if they were to ‘turn down the sound and look at the picture’…. more to come on this topic… it’s a good one!

Have a great day fellow travelers!