Interesting Times

"May you live in interesting times." That was a Chinese curse, wasn't it? Well, at least we know now who to blame it on. All the economic stuff is interesting enough, but the real show is happening right in my own atmosphere. Just watching what kind of vibration I allow myself to have, whether I succumb to fear or get mad as hell (I have GOT to stop listening to NPR!) or whether I'm just gonna breathe. It's up to me. 

You know, we've all been through this before. Many of us were probably alive during the Great Depression, died there, and then came back for these interesting times. We were probably around for the fall of Rome. During our time on earth, we've had to have seen many of the great civilizations come and go. Not that any of it was fun, but it sure was interesting! Now, we might live to see the collapse of the entire ecosystem. That would make the fallen civilization thing look not so bad by comparison. But much worse than any of these things would be to lose ourselves in fear and anger. That would be tragic. To keep things in perspective, I tell myself that none of this is new. I've been here before and this is pretty much the same. 

Now more than ever I feel it's important to watch what I think. I can almost see my thoughts gather around me like a mist; sometimes the mist glows and sometimes it doesn't. I like it better when it glows. But best of all is when there is no mist, when there aren't any thoughts, just that wide-awake, silent awareness - watching, waiting, letting go, lifting up, receiving - in other words, consciousness. I can either be scared and angry, or I can be conscious. I can either control my thoughts, or I can let them blow in the wind. Negative thoughts can either stick to me, or I can peel them off and expel them from my mindspace. This I can do. Or not. It's up to me.

Today, I choose to be conscious.