Fear

Guy Finley is an author and spiritual teacher who is worth checking out. His website is http://www.guyfinley.com/. He also offers free email mailings, which are often quite good. The following wise words of Mr. Finley showed up in my inbox just the other day:

"No fact is frightening unless it runs into conflict with what we want. When this happens, the fear is not in the event, but in us--who have decided that in order to feel secure, life must jump through our hoop. So, the fear we feel is in our hoop, not the fact that life may have jumped unexpectedly."

This is one of the best things I have ever read on fear. The problem is not out there in the "fearful" condition, but in ourselves, in our attachment to some desire. Armed with this insight, the next time fear raises its scary head, maybe the shaking in my boots won't be quite so pronounced. Hope so.

Gratitude

Everyone knows that gratitude is a "good thing," and that we should all be (more) grateful. Even though the notion that "gratitude is good" is rather cliche, I wonder if we can be reminded often enough of this great truth. I know I can't.

I shall never forget a marvelous line I read somewhere (I believe it was in Doctrine and Covenants) which proclaimed unabashedly, "He who is grateful in all things shall be made glorious." The incomparable Rumi also has some good words on gratitude:

Be grateful for your life, every detail of it,
and your face will come to shine like a sun,
and everyone who sees it will be made glad and peaceful.
Persist in gratitude, and you will slowly become one with the Sun of Love,
and Love will shine through you its all-healing joy.
This path of gratitude is not for children;
it is the path of tender heroes, of the heroes of tenderness who,
whatever happens,
keep burning on the altar of the hearts the flame of adoration.

To all those who read this blog (and those who don't), I thank you!

The Key to Forgiveness

If you are anything like me, there are times, more than you would care to admit, that you find it difficult to forgive. I know I sure do. "How could they do that?! It's just wrong / bad / stupid / inconsiderate!! Grrrrrrr." I rarely have been able to see past and let go of my judgment that they were wrong and I am right and entitled to my righteous judgment. And then I came across these wise words of Eckhart Tolle in his marvelous little book, Silence Speaks. On page 92, he writes:

"If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion, peace."

Isn't that marvelous? Now, if anyone should cross me or do or say anything stupid or bad, bad, bad, I feel that, armed with this realization, there is the chance that I may not succumb to the temptation of righteous judgment, but instead forgive, and even act out of compassion. Wouldn't that be wonderful?