Today's Affirmation:

"Today I will live with consciousness and awareness of my words, actions, and thoughts."

 

 

 Happy Wednesday!  It's the middle of the week and we are very close to a weekend.  Make the most of your day today.

 

Live with consciousness!

 

 

From my job on a high school campus, I hear the term "YOLO" frequently-You Only Live Once.  But this is only a justification for people to do what they want without regard for the consequences.  It is a carte blanche for not taking responsibility.

 

Of course this YOLO is a fallacy.  We live many times, each time learning that which we did not learn before, each time working toward bringing the scales of our lives back into balance.  It is all about the balance.

 

If we live with consciousness, and by this I mean with an awareness and deliberateness of our actions, thoughts, and behavior, then we would learn our lessons more quickly and the quality of our lives would improve.

 

Maybe we should change YOLO to YDOLO-You Don't Only Live Once.  Perhaps if we embraced the concept that we are always accountable, that consequences (and rewards) come to us across lifetimes, not just in one lifetime, then we would be more willing to be more careful of what we do and how we think.

 

For today, be conscious of every action you take, every word you speak, every thought you think.  Think ahead before you speak, before you act.  Recognize that all that you do will create a new rivulet of thought and action.

 

Here is a very small example of something that occurred yesterday to one of the young ladies that attends my high school.  One of her teachers told her that she (the teacher) could not be near her (the student) or speak with her because she smelled of smoke and it made her sick.

 

Was this entirely necessary??  What positive outcome was supposed to come of this?  This student was mortified by the teacher's behavior.  She was angry, she was embarrassed, she was shut out by an adult who should have been a role model and a mentor.

 

See what I mean?  This teacher (who should have known better) spoke these words, why?  Would it have cost her so much to take a different action?  So this small, almost seemingly insignificant remark, had huge impact on someone else's life.  It caused pain and anger and hurt.  Now the young woman is self consciousness, feels shut out of the instruction in the class because her teacher implied that she was not part of the group, she was a cast off, an outcast.  The teacher made herself unavailable to the student.  How much will that student learn in this class?  How much motivation will that student have to excel and to conquer the difficulty of the class?

 

I know what you are saying.  You are saying, "Get over it!"  You are saying, "Everybody's so sensitive, grow a thicker skin!"

 

Do you know why we say these things??  Because we don't want to take responsibility.  We feel we can hurt others and it is their problem and they have to deal with it.  But that is not the entire case, yes, we have a responsibility to self advocate and to communicate when things bother us, but we also have a responsibility to NOT go out of our way to cause others pain!

 

For today, live with consciousness.  Make an effort to see how your words and actions impact others.  Work toward creating balance, not imbalance.

 

In Love and Light,

R