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Who isn’t stressed out to some extent? Does it seem the
world’s gone berserk?

For some, they feel like they’ve lost their innocence
as they’ve witnessed atrocities and begun to question
if world leadership has their best interests in mind.

For many, they are realizing how they’ve been radicalized
against others by social media feeding them targeted
information that responds to their particular curiosities.
In other words, they are being fed stories that build upon
their current suspicions and thus reinforce their biased
views.

But what actually is the truth? What should we believe?

After being on this merry go round for nearly a year,
I’ve begun to dance with it a bit easier. How so?

I’ve become much more selective about what I put into
my mind. I don’t watch much news on TV (and never have
actually). So that’s not new.

I try not to engage much with social media either. I
proactively choose who I want to receive emails from.
Does the information make sense to me? Does the
information create fear or general unrest within me, a sense of
making me right and others wrong? If so, I limit my
exposure to such information, even if I believe it to be true.

I use my intuition to filter out what works and what doesn’t.
My sense of being grounded and at peace within is more
important to me than being right.

I had another revelation this week about how to deal with
my views on things. If something feels right within my heart
and soul, I go with it because I’ve run it through my own internal
filter. As long as I know in my heart that I’m NOT harming
myself or anyone else, I give myself free rein to proceed with
a choice, decision or action.

My friend, Molly, bought me this calendar and the February cover
states:

My heart’s mission is to love, give and serve with kindness and
humility. I know this is the Truth for me. I don’t control what
others think of me and never will.

If I’m living my mission of love, and my choices frighten others
because they don’t align with their rules of how to behave, it’s a
consequence, but it’s not my intention. I am not able to control
THEIR perception because it’s based upon their life experience
which comes from a complex source of information they’re receiving.

Bottom line. We can’t be responsible for and in control of every
body else’s opinions of us, how they think, or how they feel. We can
try but it’s an exhausting endeavor.

What is a kind thing we CAN do? We can acknowledge whatever
pain they are experiencing, even though we may not agree with
their stance on things.

We CAN have compassion for their pain and treat them like a
real human being because it DOES make sense, given their life
experiences and how they perceive things.

We are all subject to a lot of pain because we are living in a mind
that breeds suffering and a body that reflects that misery.

Since last August, I’ve been reading from this book of 1574 quotes
called The Seven Steps to Awakening. I read one quote per
day, write it out, consider it’s purpose and how I can practice it.

This daily practice has helped me to see how much the mind
leads us down a path of sorrow.

Quote #121: One should positively strive to enthrone wisdom in
one’s heart, for the mind is unsteady like a monkey. And, one should
then avoid unwise company.

Quote #129: Ideas and thoughts are bondage; and their coming
to an end is liberation.

Quote #165: Abandoning mental conditioning, be a liberated soul.

We can’t trust what the mind and all its thoughts, concepts and ideas
will lead us to conclude. Often it creates separatism, confusion,
suffering and disconnection from our fellow human.

The mind wants to make others wrong and us right. It’s certainly
not conducive to relationship harmony. If we become willing to
acknowledge another’s pain and how it makes sense in their
context, we can diffuse an emotional time bomb waiting to erupt
within both of us, rather than defend our position and create more
disconnection and discontentment on this planet.

Please comment and share your experience of the last year. I won’t
make you wrong no matter what your beliefs.

Much Love,

Angie

PS: Mark your calendar for the weekend of June 26 and 27, 2021
for the next free, online women’s retreat, Let Go Of What They
Think. 10am – 5pm CT.