Saturday, February 14, 2009

Clean Slate

We never start with a clean slate, because we always have a history that is embedded in the neurons of our brains and bodies.  We always start with a clean slate, because awareness is always now.  

Obstruction

Hanging my bathrobe in the closet, I felt a tug as the belt came out of the loops and fell onto the floor.  Looking to see what the belt had gotten snagged on, I discovered that I was, in fact, standing on one end of it.  And I wondered how many times we try to accomplish something that doesn't work out--in this case, hanging up my robe--and think that something in the environment is obstructing our success--whatever the belt had become snagged upon--when in fact the obstruction comes from ourselves.  We are, so to speak, "standing on one end of the belt while trying to hang up the robe."  Of course, it's because we haven't noticed in the first place that one end is longer than the other, and dragging on the ground...

Self-Respect and Self-Esteem

Some people equate self-respect with self-esteem, which is usually understood as having a good opinion of oneself.  But I would say that self-respect is saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done.