happy picture. Day out with my daughter. Just the thought of her makes me happy.

“the only failure in life is not being true to your own truth”

This quote was the subject for my meditation today.   On the surface it seems wise enough but digging deeper,   what is my truth?   The all powerful God I was taught about as a child and no longer believe in?.    The religion I was told was the only true one and I now realise is just a variation on a theme?   The rules I were given?.

” thou should not kill”?    yet my experience has shown me that sometimes assisted suicide is the more compassionate and humane way.

“Honour thy father and mother”?    My parents were loving and kind,   but I have seen many examples of awful parenting.  Rosemary and Fred West for example.  Should their children honour them, even though they abused and murdered their siblings for their own pleasure?… and so over time my truth has changed.

 “Thou should not steal.”?    but if my grandchildren were starving, would I steal food to feed them?…..yes in a heartbeat.

Still, I understand the essence of the meditation message but I think it is directed at much more ambitious people.  People measure success in different ways.   Often dependent on the family culture they came from and often it is not thought about.  They assume everybody measures success the way they do.  whether it be money, status, trophies, titles,  power,  friends,  knowledge,  academic achievement,  family   or whatever.

So I think deeply about how I measure success, and failure.

I think at the end of the day  I now measure success by the amount of love someone has.

I have never craved money or power and long ago saw that status in jobs did not bring happiness and in fact brought more stress and jealousy from others.

Success equals happiness, we are told.  but I observe that happiness often equals the amount of love somebody has.     It is not how much money, beauty, thinness, power or material things people have.   and the amount of love somebody receives is in direct proportion to the amount of unconditional love a person gives out, without expecting anything in return.

The happiest person I know, genuinely likes everybody.  She gives of her love to everybody she meets and always finds good things to say about the most humble of her acquaintances.  There is no ulterior motive, no  plan on this, or expectation, she just loves people and if they don’t love her back, well she just shrugs her shoulders and says. “Their loss.”

At the end of the day, I have decided there is only one truth………

LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF.

Of course, here I fall far short,  as my own self interest and ego and prejudices,   gets in the way.   Of course I want people to love me but I have baggage that gets in the way, from when I have been hurt and betrayed by people in the past..   and I must admit I sometimes fall into the trap  of chasing material things and appearances in the mistaken belief it will make me happy.

But I am working on it!!!!

…. and most of the time I am content………..

may you find your own truth

Love Denise