Wal-Mart Wisdom

                                     "Claim truth where you find it” ~ Rob Bell                                                                                                                       

 Anyone who’s close to me knows that I take great pride in my psychological journey toward calming myself in emotional situations. The process of behavioral change has almost become addicting….

Change one thing about myself…. and then proceed on to another. 

But….even through all my Philosophy, Buddha, Tolle, and endless psychology readings, my ugly monster will occasionally reappear.

Especially at Wal-Mart!

To make a long story short…I went in to Wal-Mart last Sunday at 5:00 pm, only to come out at 7:00 pm.

Now you’re problem thinking, “two hours….that’s normal”….and in most cases that’s true…but for me, that was for a bag of Dog Food and one container of coffee.

The rest of the time was spent waiting 25 minutes at the sporting goods area…20 minutes at the jewelry department…and 25 min in the 20 items or less line…only to have the lane closed when I reached the checker.

"I’m sorry sir…It’s my lunch break”

At this point, there were not enough positive affirmations in the self-help world that could sooth the rumblings of my childhood beast.

I took a deep breath… and then proceeded toward the checker lines from hell.

There was a lady in front of me with Planet of the Apes’ tattoos all up and down her arm (of course Cesar was prominently displayed at the top).

In front of her was a small child of about 10 years old (this is sarcasm) jumping up and down in a buggy. His mom was frantically feeding him a package of sugary skittles to calm to down.

You guessed right…it didn’t work.

Amongst all this chaos, I couldn’t help but notice the checker. She was a small sweet looking lady with an extremely peaceful look on her face.

Throughout this whole process….. Kids jumping…..mothers with the wrong coupons….money change needed…. she never broke her smile.

I finally arrived at her station with my one bag of dog food and my one container of coffee and said, “Whew….I don’t know how you do it!”

She replied, “Do what?”…..she seemed very confused by my statement.

I replied, “Work in all this chaos”

She returned to her sweet little peaceful smile and replied, “It only affects you if you allow it”.

All I could say was thank you.

This “Aha” moment was a great reminder that real peace is being able to accept what is. Acceptance simply means recognizing your “ugly monster” voice and rejecting it.

Acknowledging that the only person we can change is ourselves enables us to do this.

There is a lot of negative energy and craziness in this world, but we can all learn to live with inner peace.  If your intention is strong and consistent… it will happen.

Outwardly, nothing changes… peace comes from within.

 

The Four Noble Truths of Buddha

~ Anguish…Life is Pain

~ Acknowledge…Acceptance

~ Cessation…Stop

~ New Path…Peace

 

 

 

Juvenile Sea Squirt

 "The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore, so it eats it!"

                                                                                                                          ~ Daniel Dennett

 

How often have we seen people wandering through the sea of life searching for meaning….searching for a suitable place to cling to and make a home for life.  For this task, he/she has a rudimentary need waiting to be satisfied. When these people find this place, they dig in so deep that discerning thought is no longer required. At that point, critical reflection and rational dialogue dies within them while they live….or should I say, while they exist?

Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny

Ok…I know you’re wondering….. “What the heck?”

If you will, give me 227 words to explain.
I know we’re all pattern seeking creatures, but there is something that happens to me every time I listen to people speak, or any time I read a book.  I can’t help but see words/stories in metaphors.

An example….Someone said the other day, “we’re never there”…I immediately thought, “That’s because we’re always here…right here…right now.”

So where am I going with this?

I’ve recently been reading about bugs and parasites. Every sentence I read brings forth a new perspective about human behavior.  There are certain behaviors in other species that appear to be recapitulated (brief summary) in humans.

So this is where the title comes from. Let’s look at the definition….

Ontogeny - The origin and development of an individual organism from embryo to adult.

Recapitulates - To give a brief summary of something….to reiterate.

Phylogeny - the evolutionary history of a kind of organism.

( By the way, this theory has been disproven)

The easiest explanation for this hypothesis is that in developing from embryo to adult, animals go through stages resembling or representing successive stages in the evolution of their remote ancestors.

I would like to share 3 stories of different species behaviors (juvenile sea squirt, moth, and parasite) that appear to be recapitulated in humans.

Thanks for listening to my pattern seeking mind!