Everyman's Journal 2011

Everyman's Journal 2011, #18

January 21

Life presented a challenging situation to me yesterday, and I was emotionally upset for a while, struggling to own a mistake I had made. I had assumed that the order deadline for the wholesale food-buying group I belong to was the same as it was at the time of my last order several months ago. It has always been the 2nd Thursday of the month, the semi-truck from the distributor in Oregon delivering the order the next Thursday (i.e., yesterday). I was inattentive to (never saw) the internet information that the order deadline had been changed to Wednesday, assumed my order was in time, failed to notice even that in the email confirmation of the order delivery was promised on the scheduled February delivery date, a month away.... all resulting that I lived for a week in the expectation of receiving my order yesterday. Which of course didn't happen.

What I saw as I dealt with my upset was that where I was at right then was very resistant to owning that it was my mistake.... my upset really very much wanted to blame somebody else. Somebody didn't let me know, and they should have. Somebody should have programed the computer to tell me before accepting my order that the delivery was a month away etc. Why did this have to happen to me, right now. I had been so looking forward to getting my supplies, and I just hated having my intentions thwarted.

Of course I knew had to get responsible, and get into communication too. I called the company, told them I was in an upset and what it was about and asked for them to just hear me. The female on the end of the line was, thank God, able to do that. I spoke as maturely as possible and didn't make it personal, and she didn't take personal offense... in fact, she was able to completely get how it would feel to have it happen to her. This was spiritual work in the middle of the marketplace. As I was heard, my upset lost power, and I began to feel my sadness under the upset. And it was then that I began to remember the little clues I had noticed, but only barely. I had been too busy creating my order. But I had somewhere registered that the truck was to leave for the trip south on Friday. That was a change (it had been Monday in the past) that if I had thought about it, might have had me check to see if anything else had also changed. But I didn't do that. I missed the clues.

It is like in the art of tracking. You need to pay attention to everything... a broken blade of grass, an overturned stone, a footprint half blown away or covered by sifting sand.... they all tell the story of what has passed that way. In the growth of conscious mindful alertness, it is the same. The clues that I missed were enough, that if I had been alert, I could have figured it out correctly. Since I had been sleepwalking through the order process, and carrying the baggage of past assumptions, I was not FULLY present, and I created a result I did not intend.... a breakdown.

Breakdowns can be great gifts though. They can spur us to contemplate existence more deeply, more mindfully. They can open the way to hearing the call of a new direction. That humble new direction for me is simply to return to the remembrance of my known cornerstones of consciousness. There are only a few key ones, and any of them will naturally open up many more. The one I re-embrace today is: Pay Attention to Everything. Practicing this regularly for even just a few moments each hour will rapidly alter our ability to register subtle awarenesses, change and deepen our breathing patterns, and open us up to our natural awareness of Love, and to our intuitive intelligence.

Namaste,

David

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

david@davidseacord.com

www.davidseacord.com

(my fine art website)

www.davidseacord-everymansjournal.blogspot.com

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

www.davidseacord-acimcommentaries.blogspot.com

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

www.everymansjournal2011.blogspot.com

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)