Happy St. Patrick’s Day, good people! Last year at this time, we wrote an awesome post about how most of us have all of these judgments all the time, nasty thoughts that just pop in our heads about ourselves and others, and just about anything else. Now, we can’t stop a thought from coming in; it’s just not possible. Why? Because it’s already there. But you know what? That first thought really isn’t the problem. This is because a thought doesn’t really hang around. It pops in, and it pops out; there’s no parking lot for thoughts. Really? The only way we create a parking lot is by thinking more about that thought, and that’s on us. It’s self-inflicted, and it’s nothing more than an old habit that can be changed. If you don’t like the thought, then you can let it pass, and it will. In fact, it already did. This is called developing the ability to witness or observe your thoughts. And it absolutely is something that you can develop, meaning that you learn about it and then you practice. You gently and lovingly practice.
So we we wrote last year about this, and then we followed it up with another post on the same topic that talked about one of those cool buried gospels called the Gospel of Thomas. And the first thing it says is exactly what we’ve been talking about! It goes something like this: “Seek and ye shall find. Find and ye shall be totally disturbed at what you’ve found. And then ye shall learn to marvel and reign supreme.” I’m paraphrasing, of course… So it means that we start to look within at the content of our minds, our thoughts. And we see tons of judgments and other old, conditioned, low quality trash. But then we learn to marvel and all is good. Wait, marvel… what does that mean? It means we say, “Wow, look at that one. Wow, look at that one.” So we completely replace judgment with curiosity and wonder. We don’t create the parking lot. And we see that these are just old conditioned thoughts that have no power on their own. So we stop giving them power. Zero. And after a while, they don’t even bother popping in. And when they do, it’s like a blast from the past, and we are amazed at how much power we used to give this old trash! Because we see that who cares, a random thought in my head is NOT a big deal. It’s all about what I do with it, how much power I give it. And I’m learning that I actually have a choice.
So I’m writing this now, one year later, to just sort of check in, because I think that so much of our pain comes from how much we judge our judgments (rather than coming directly from the judgments themselves). I can’t tell you how many folks think that they’re actually bad people for having these judgy thoughts. But they’re just old thoughts! No big deal. And you are definitely NOT a bad person because of this (maybe for another reason, but not this one… just kidding…). So I invite you to give this topic another look, and maybe read those other two posts. Because there’s lots of peace to be had in this department.
Well, that’s pretty much all I have for now. I’m out at Pensacola Beach on a sunny but kind of cool Friday afternoon as I write this, dog sitting for an English bulldog named Humphrey. He’s so friendly that when I walk him (with no collar or leash… don’t tell), he jumps into strangers’ cars and walks into their houses if the door is open. It’s pretty funny. And St. Patrick’s Day is huge out here, with a big pub crawl that started at 10:30 this morning. At 10:30 in the freaking morning?? Good lord… So that was almost five hours ago (and we’re nowhere near sunset). So I had to drive very carefully coming out here to avoid hitting super wasted people in ridiculous green outfits. It’s quite the spectacle, and always entertaining. And I love St. Patrick’s Day for that. I just have to find something green to wear. I heard orange is cool, too – it’s the Protestant color or something like that. So there’s some randomness for your day, and may it be the best day it can be. With no judgment, of course. But of course there will be judgment, because it’s an old, innocent habit. And who cares! Let’s just practice engaging in less and less judgment of the first judgment. Man, we’ve said the word “judgment” so many times today… Peace out! And as always, let me know if I can help.