How Dare You!

Whenever I feel frustrated, impatient or angry I realize I am defending a proposition. The proposition that "I am" is significant, "How dare you!" "Can't you understand!" "Don't you know who I am!"
When I cool down and step back from the situation, the person, or my own inner dialogue I notice that I've been caught up in the delusion of protecting something that doesn't exist - "I". My "I" is only a figment of the narrative running through my head. And I see that what I'm actually protecting is the idea that my narrative is somehow more significant or important than your narrative. Yet I can choose to be of service to you through practicing compassion, detachment, patience, and above all, wisdom!

Good versus Evil!

Reading Bob Thurman's 2004 book, "Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well" at the moment. He gives a mathematical formula to prove the triumph of good over evil:
Infinity x 1 (evil) < Infinity x Infinity (good)
"The unenlightened and evil are defined by self-centeredness", he says. "Whereas the enlightened and good are defined by other-centeredness". No matter how many bad thing self-centered beings do to others, they are soon exhausted since their drive is based only on their own appetite and will. Yet other-centered beings strive to make the world a better place and so they are able to draw on the emotional energies and needs of an infinite number of others. "Therefore, other-centered beings will always last longer and perform more capably, since their source of energy is so much greater than that of self-centered beings".

Seeing Clearly!

At the start of a new year and a new decade here are 7 aspects of life I see more clearly now:
(1) We are all connected to more people who hold us in positive regard than we realize.
(2) Correspondingly, we influence more lives than we think.
(3) Yet, there is a tendency to imagine that others are just as vitally engaged in my story as I am. They're not. This is one of the great self-delusions.
(4) Everything is as it should be. Life moves on with or without me.
(5) My story is only a fabrication of my dreams, my desires, my actions and reactions.
(6) Others place their own interpretations on my life. I have no influence on that. But I can be the author of my own epic, even to the final chapter.
(7) The fear of death is only frightening when viewed from the imagined perspective of others. What will they say about me? Will they remember me? What will I have amounted to?