Dear friends,
Our meditation today is on the theme of picking yourself up.
Let's begin by seeing if we can come into a place of stillness,
Quieting our minds,
Seeing if we can notice the too often overlooked fact that we are here now,
Enjoying this time and this space.
Let's give ourselves just one minute,
60 seconds,
To come into this present moment and to be really here.
Welcome back.
And now onto the theme picking yourself up.
Every so often in our lives we make resolutions.
The obvious time for this is the new year.
But other opportunities present themselves as well.
Occasions such as birthdays,
Anniversaries,
Even difficult and tragic times,
Such as when we hear of the death of a friend,
When we lose a loved one.
These can be times of resolution to begin again.
These dates and events remind us of the passing of time.
They remind us of the shortness of life.
They urge us to review our situation and to try again to be the best we can be.
And so we make our resolutions to be better,
To be kinder,
To be more understanding,
To make better use of the time of our lives.
But after a time we can find ourselves falling back into our old ways.
The good resolution slips for a day.
No problem.
We take up where we left off.
But then we slip again.
And the slips themselves become habitual.
Before we know it,
The resolution is broken.
These are times when we must remember to pick ourselves up.
The world looks better from a standing position.
If we stay on the ground we will only notice the mud.
Remember,
Our tragedy is not the fall.
The greater tragedy will be staying on the ground.
The only way forward is to get up and move on.
But this getting up can be difficult.
Failing in our resolution can cause us to lose heart,
Especially if we fall more than once.
Especially if we fall many times.
We begin to doubt our ability to carry through our resolutions.
But we should not lose heart.
We must not lose heart.
Every time we fall and every time we get up we strengthen our ability to come back.
It's like the muscles we strengthen each time we work out in the gym.
Failing in our good resolve can be compared to our light flickering.
Staying a while on the ground can be compared to our light going out.
Everything looks black.
There's darkness all around.
But then again,
In each of our lives there is a moment that makes all the difference.
Someone comes along to rekindle our light.
Someone comes along to help us on our feet.
Someone comes along to encourage us to continue to the end of the race.
Sometimes that person stays beside us until we get going again.
Sometimes the rescuer just sends us on our way with resolution renewed.
We owe each of our rescuers a debt of gratitude.
Let's pause for one minute now for 60 seconds of reflection.
Welcome back.
Albert Schweitzer,
The famous theologian,
Writer and philosopher,
Gives us this thought.
In everyone's life at some point our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
There are many situations in our lives when we need our spirit rekindled.
We need it when we face a difficult task,
Something that we know we ought to do,
But which we keep putting on the long finger for too long.
We need it in those times when a relationship needs mending.
Instead of sitting down and giving up,
We find the courage to press on and to do what needs to be done.
Because our light has been rekindled.
We have all been the recipients of words of encouragement that help us to pick ourselves up when we are tempted to stay on the ground.
And this passing of this light from one to the other is not one way traffic.
In the course of our lives we will have been helped to our feet many times.
And in the course of our lives we will have many opportunities to help other people to begin again.
All we need to do is to watch out.
To really watch out.
Because the falling is not always obvious.
People can be down within and appear to be up and about on the surface.
This is why we need to watch out for one another.
And to ask what meaning are you OK?
And to listen carefully and mindfully for the answer.
Because on the ground people can only see the mud.
All of us need help picking ourselves up from the ground.
Our closing thought for today comes from Dezaku Aikida.
Anyone who has ever made a resolution discovers that the strength of that determination fades in time.
The moment you feel that is when you should make a fresh determination.
Tell yourself OK,
I will start again from now.
If you fall down seven times,
Get up an eighth time.
Don't give up when you feel discouraged,
Just pick yourself up and renew your determination each time.
Words there from Dezaku Aikida.
In conclusion,
May you be blessed with tenacity.
And may you always have a friend to help you when you need to get back on your feet.
Namaste.
