Untangling
Rats' Nests
“He
who lives in harmony with himself, lives in harmony with the
universe.”
Marcus
Aurelius
When
I was a little girl, my hair was long. One of my least favorite
things in the world was when my mother took a notion to brush it. She
would grouse the whole time about “rats nests,” and pull the
living daylights out of my tomboy head. Sometimes our thoughts and
our attitudes can get as tangled up as little girl hair. They swirl
around and snag on things that are old; they bring up past slights,
and jealousies, and scramble them up with current goings-on. In
general they make us, and everyone around us, feel miserable.
The
sorting out of “rats nest” takes time and most of all, awareness.
Instead of jumping into blame, and shame, and pointing fingers, we
can pull free one strand at a time. We can first of all remind
ourselves that the past is not changeable, the future is unknown, and
all we have to work with is the present. We can decide how we want to
manage our current knotty thinking and untidy behavior. We have the
option of continuing to tangle things up and make ourselves more
miserable. We also have to option of forgiveness, which allows us to
let go.
According
to the website “Pathways of Light” (pathwaysoflight.org), “Our
natural state is in perfect harmony with Love, our Source...When we
feel out of harmony, discouraged, disgruntled, unhappy or afraid, it
is only because we are believing we are separate from our source...”
A Course in Miracles recommends we ask our Inner Teacher what is the
best response to maintain harmony within. Sometimes letting go of the
past—really letting go, not just putting it on the shelf for later
consideration—and putting forgiveness in its place is the way to do that. One strand at a time, we can
untangle “little girl hair,” (or "little boy hair") and live in harmony with ourselves
and the universe.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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