As a lifelong fan of Peanuts, this is one of my favorite “Lucyisms” – she is sitting on a swing pondering the thought…. several years ago someone suggested that I thought the world revolved around me and I was quite offended. Now it just makes me laugh (because it’s oh so true).

Here is a perfect example of how the rules change according to my position at the time… I was merging onto a freeway and the car in the right lane didn’t move over to let me in. My thought: Geez buddy there’s plenty of room, the least you could do is move over and let me in!!”  ONE exit later, I was the car in the right lane as someone was trying to merge… and my thought was “dang pal, it says yield in your lane! What the heck!”

Sound familiar?

I have spent years learning how to ‘take the target off my chest’ – what do I mean by that? Let’s say a friend walks past me on the street without saying hello – my immediate reaction used to be ‘what did I do to her??” I never considered the idea that perhaps she had something else on her mind and didn’t see me… of course, I walked past people all the time while deep in thought and didn’t even see them, but this is different! Someone walked past me!

It seems that my narrator (ie voices in my head that offer running commentary on my day as it progresses) has always added a silent “TO ME” to every occurrence….  the kids are doing it TO ME…. the traffic…. doing it TO ME….. the weather…. well you get the idea.

One of the wonderful things about spiritual living is the ability to live life without wearing a target. The kids aren’t doing anything TO ME, they are just doing what kids do… and they would do it no matter who was here…. That woman? She is just being who she is – whether I am around or not…. what freedom to go through a day without thinking that everyone is aiming at me. Well, most days anyway! I admit that I still tend to wear a target where my mother is concerned… some day I hope to cut that poor woman some slack two days in a row (ie have a conversation without getting defensive) – for now, at least I recognize the target, which is step 1 in the target-removal process, eh?

As for all of you… I wish you a target-free weekend!

(I would love to hear some of your ‘Lucy’ moments – feel free to email me at yaygodblog@yahoo.com)