Comparison Shopping
How many times, when you are having a period of struggle, do you find yourself saying it could be worse? Or, how many times, when you share your struggle or pain with someone do they tell you that? It is said in an effort and an expectation that it will make you feel better.
Does comparison shopping for someone who is in a worse situation really make you feel better? Perhaps it will provide some temporary relief like taking an aspirin, but it doesn’t cure the ailment. Instead shop for something that will actually make things better.
Comparison shopping might give temporary relief but it does nothing to inspire you to do what’s necessary to improve your circumstances. In fact, it may do the opposite and inspire you to just accept your situation. Worse, it might just be feeding the ego by finding someone you are better than.
That seductive approach will make your circumstances worse by, if nothing else, prolonging it. If everything happens for a reason, then a part of the reason for the struggle is to find a way out and learn what you can from that process. It will make you stronger and prepare you for more lessons sure to come your way. Learning all these lessons, welcoming the challenges, will eventually lead you to the person you are destined to become. That road leads to finding the true you.
The only value in being aware of others in worse situations is to remind you to be kind, compassionate, and for you to seek ways you can help. When you help, you will then feel better.
Elevating yourself in all that you do will give you the strength and wisdom to help the others you found while shopping.
“Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.” – Regina Brett
Kind Or In-Kind?
Do we act kind to another or in-kind? Is how we act towards another dictated by our giving drive or by the others action towards us.
If their action is kind and that motivates our in- kind, while that’s not the ultimate motivation, it’s still a good thing. What if their action is un-kind? Do we then respond kind or in-kind? Do we allow them to take us down or do we resist that instinct and remind ourselves that we can always elevate ourselves?
Consider it a test of your resolve to continually elevate yourself. If we respond in-kind to an unkind, it’s a set back for us on our climb and we all lose. If we respond kind to an un-kind we elevate ourselves and perhaps influence the other.
“Two people, two souls, synergize the best in both and overcome the least in each.” – Chassidic Adage
“Words Should Be Weighed, Not Counted” a Jewish Saying (part six)
Words are indeed powerful. They can hurt or they can warm, touch hearts, and inspire. Let us choose our words very carefully. Before allowing a thought to become a word ask yourself “what is the goal of speaking these words?” Let the thoughts become words only if it elevates you and the spoken to. If that is truly the goal remember this
“People forget what you say, but they remember how you make them feel.” – Attributed to several people
Crystallizing Your Dreams
Israeli Scientist Daniel Shechtman won the 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of a unique mosaic of atoms called quasicrystals (don’t ask). This is a structure that broke all the accepted rules of how a crystal ought to behave. He first discovered this in 1982. He was mocked, said to have “brought disgrace” to his lab, and called a “quasi-scientist” by all the leading scientists. Today his discovery has been accepted. If there was a Nobel Prize for perseverance, he would get that too!! We can’t consent to the consensus and allow it to block us from realizing our dreams and goals. It is not a popularity contest.
“Truth does not become more true if the whole world were to accept it; nor does it become less true if the whole world were to reject it.” — Maimonides
You Cannot Lower Your Mountain, But You Can Elevate Yourself
Your mountain is the metaphor for your life’s journey. The climb indicates challenge and struggle. You were born at the base of your mountain and the human you were destined and created to become is waiting for you at the top of your mountain. At the top of your mountain is not a pot of gold, but a pot for you to deposit all the nuggets of gold you collected along the way. Think of the journey in that way. Every step has a reason. Every person or event is presented to you for a reason. We may not know the reason. We do know that it is either for the benefit of others, or to further prepare you for your purpose and mission, or both. Every challenge, test, or struggle may not be what you want. It is what you need or are needed for, at that moment.
We have free will; therefore we have the choice as to how we respond in all situations, whether it be in athletics, career, or inter-personal relationships, etc. You can adopt this “your mountain” attitude, which will then assist you in fulfilling your potential in everything you do. If we always strive to reach our fullest potential available to us at every moment, we train ourselves to do that in all that we do. We will then realize that we can find joy in all that comes our way once we recognize that it is ultimately for the good.
Knowing that the true you, your ultimate potential, awaits you at the top of “Your Mountain”, should inspire you to continue the climb. Accept that every challenge and struggle on the way up is there to strengthen, teach and prepare you for you. It’s there to prepare you for the next struggle. Accepting that will give you the courage and strength coupled with the excitement to take on all that comes your way. You will learn to relish each challenge as you get stronger and wiser each time you take it on. Just as an athlete looks forward (not without some degree of fear, hence the adrenaline rush) to the next competition. Think of “your mountain” as a series of hill and plateaus. Each hill is the struggle, followed by a plateau where you can digest the accomplishment and prepare for the next hill. With free will, know that there will be times when you may make the wrong choice and take the wrong turn. Be confident that there will be signs along the way directing you back as long as you look for them.
The ultimate goal of getting to the top is the goal of discovering you. You will get there by tapping in to the all that’s available to you at every moment in all that you do. All that you do means just that, in and with everything and everyone that comes your way. Elevating yourself means constantly tapping into to your other-centric giving you.
This is the pervading theme of all that you will see on this site. This can become your mantra, “I cannot lower my mountain, but I can always elevate myself.”
The Spinning Rabbi - Heart & Soul 