If you’re looking for inner peace, you want to be wide awake and aware of yourself as you move through your days. Accountable for the energy you’re spreading, pursuing what’s true for you, following that big yes. But one of the great benefits of quieting your mind and learning how to direct your energy, is deciding what you’re going to dwell upon, and what you’re going to ignore. Not everything requires or deserves your participation.

Sometimes people will do things that seem truly crazy from the outside. There are choices I make that would surely seem crazy to other people. We all have our quirks, and things that feel true for us. We have our outlooks and our ways of making sense of the world. We all have dark times when we make really poor choices. Sometimes people celebrate someone else’s poor choice because it makes them feel better about their own decisions, as in, “My life may not be perfect, but I’d never do THAT!” We are all going to blow it from time to time. The quest for perfection as a human being will rob you of joy.

Conversations that begin, “Can you believe what so-and-so did??” are not worth your attention. Participating in drama is a choice, as is allowing someone else’s actions to rob you of your peace. (Certain transgressions will throw anyone off their center, of course. I’m just talking about the stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with you. And it could be argued that other people’s actions in general have very little to do with anyone else). The mind loves to obsess over situations that are painful or unresolved, that didn’t go the way we were hoping. Somebody said something to us in a particular way, or didn’t respond at all, and the mind gets hooked. Where’s that email? That phone call? And we start to spin. Dwelling on disappointment, or another person’s behavior, path, and actions will only make you feel sick. Focusing on everything that’s wrong in your life, and all the many ways you suck (you don’t) will only exhaust you and leave you depleted. You can’t manage another person’s path; it’s more than enough just to keep your own clean. If you find yourself hooked and spinning, see if you can un-snag your mind and bring it back to right here, right now. Taking a few deep breaths is a way of hitting the reset button. And if you can, refocus on your own path, and what you can do today to make the world around you a little brighter. More full of love. There’s so much beauty in the world, and you are innately part of that. You don’t want to miss that because you’re distracted by nonsense 🙂

Sending you some love right now, and wishing you a drama-free angst-free, gossip-free day!! Ally