Luke’s favorite summer game: retrieving rocks from the Battenkill river and bringing them to us
Yesterday I wrote about knowing that the balloon was a sign for me to let go, and stop thinking about a difficult situation in my life. What I didn’t write about, was my ongoing challenge to follow that guidance. All that evening and even yesterday, my thoughts drifted back to the scenario that I knew I needed to be letting go of.
The “lapses” got less frequent and I caught them sooner every time, but I rarely let anything go in one fell-swoop. For me it is a process of first becoming aware that I am thinking something that won’t be helpful to me or anyone else, and then when the thought comes up again, continuing to turn it away by saying something like, “I am not going there. I have let that go.” I also find it helpful to hold up my hand, like I’m trying to stop something from coming any closer… (you know how it is with those negative, destructive thoughts, sometimes you can almost feel them coming).
So many people talk about wanting to get rid of the ego (not that we ever can) but it truly is a great help and ally if it stays in its proper place; as the servant of higher mind, not the master. We need ego to focus, discipline ourselves, set goals and stay on the path that we have chosen.
“Your conscious mind is the porter at the door, the watchman at the gate“. Robert Collier
