Daily Mood Quote
Day 124 – September 4, 2011
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
~Buddha
Yesterday my mind was rattled because of the amount of homework and short deadlines for school projects. It was surprising at how difficult it was to focus or even think about anything other than the assignments that were pending. To be fair, I allowed other distractions to take ascendancy this week, putting my homework and reading on the back-burner. I won't do that again, because the stress of that event caused a horrible headache. Better time management skills are in order this week.
This morning, I woke up feeling calm and peaceful, a good night sleep was exactly what I needed after the stresses of yesterday. I was amazed at how I let things back up to the point of feeling overwhelmed. At one point I ask myself, if I could handle grad school? What was interesting was, once I sat down and began to clear the clutter from my mind, things fell into place as assignment after assignment was completed. First the paper, then the reading, then the analysis of a case study and before I knew it my homework was under control. That's a good thing because I was really concerned. I did realize something though, in grad school, you really can't take a day off. If you do, you fall behind and it's hard to play catch up. Especially when your an adult learner and have other responsibilities in your life.
They say wisdom comes with age, I think wisdom comes from mistakes and lesson learned.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” I believe this because peace isn't inherited, or a gift one can give to someone. It's not something we are born with, nor is it something we can buy. Peace is only something we can achieve if we choose. I've made the mistake of “back-burnering” an important project (procrastination) and it rattled me. So, in my case, peace begins with getting the things I can control, under control. I'll admit that there are so very many things that are beyond my control and quite frankly I wouldn't want to try to control them. In the movie Bruce Almighty, God (played by Morgan Freeman) said to Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) "Triumph is born out of struggle faith is the alchemist. If you want pictures like these, you'll need to use some dark colors." Those pictures are having the things I can control, under control.
I can control my thoughts, my actions and reactions and how I prioritize things in my life. Lesson learned and a little wisdom gained. From now on, I won't wait so long. My husband says that “the big lessons in life almost always carry with them a little bit of discomfort, (dark colors) so that they stick in our memory.” It's just the way we have developed as a species. Well the headache and panic of letting my work get behind is more than enough “discomfort” than I wish to experience again, so I won't soon forget. I like the “peace” that comes with that bit of wisdom. We all have the choice to control our actions and reactions, and to choose peace in our life instead of panic. It's up to each of us to make that call. I choose peace, at least in what I can control.
Will you choose “peace” today, or let panic get in the way?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
No comments:
Post a Comment