One of my friends has a signature on her e-mail that states “The happiest people don’t have everything…they are just happy with what they have.” Noble words yet they always leave me feeling that there is a question that has not been answered. An event in my barrio brought her statement and the shadowy question to mind again. I found the question weaving its way through the jungle of critical judgments filling my mind.
My tranquil Sunday morning had been suddenly shattered by the piercing sound of a siren, followed by the blast of a foghorn. This auditory assault continued for some time augmented with Riga- tone music; a kind of Latin Rap. All of this was amplified at a decimal that could shatter glass and from a distance of less than a block from my house. Even though this is typical of Honduran parties, advertising, or the beckoning of customers, I found my mind beginning a downward spiral into its “stink” mode. This negative mental chatter included the condemnation of folks that sacrifice their neighbor’s quality of life for a few extra Lempiras.
Then suddenly my friend’s phrase made its entrance into my thoughts shocking me out of my negative chatter by creating the diversion I needed to break free of the spiral. And as always it was followed by the question that demanded to know, “What do you want?”
Yes, what did I have planned today that the celebration would interfere with? By this time I recognized that the mix of noise and music was probably just that, a celebration since its location logically would attest to a birthday, wedding or such. Instead of pursuing my ‘stinkin’ thinkin’ I should be grateful that I do not live across the street from the little restaurant. Soon some other neighbor who speaks the language far better than I would ask them to tone down the volume. And that’s exactly what happened. As I write this a gentle mix of Caribbean, Popular Spanish and Ranchero music floats through the yard. It’s easy volume now a pleasure for the entire neighborhood.
It was much later that a quieter mind was again visited by the same calm, commanding presence of the question. Hum, so what DO I want, I thought? I decided to sit quietly and explore the question, probing the dark recesses of my mind until the light of awareness began to illuminate the core issue. I came to realize that the question was challenging me to decide what it would take for me to release critical judgment of others so I could have the life I wanted.
The temporal side of my friends message was a lesson I had learned years before; material things don’t make people happy. And beyond that, I had discovered that I could have any material thing I wanted just by deciding it and holding that positive intent. However there was a more important lesson that connected those two insights. It was that satisfaction is like gratitude; it helps create more, and that if those positive thoughts are expansive then negative thoughts would be constrictive energy.
So, there it was the question that insisted I bare my soul of ego and stand naked, vulnerable before the trappings of the world. As I surrendered to the question I could feel the fear rise to protect me from the unknown. From what possible reality might be held in the light of truth. Yet as I pushed aside the fear and gave space to not only the question but each ensuing question that followed, I was finally guided to the eventual answer. I want to achieve my ultimate potential. It was the answer that becomes its own question.
So, what do you want?
My tranquil Sunday morning had been suddenly shattered by the piercing sound of a siren, followed by the blast of a foghorn. This auditory assault continued for some time augmented with Riga- tone music; a kind of Latin Rap. All of this was amplified at a decimal that could shatter glass and from a distance of less than a block from my house. Even though this is typical of Honduran parties, advertising, or the beckoning of customers, I found my mind beginning a downward spiral into its “stink” mode. This negative mental chatter included the condemnation of folks that sacrifice their neighbor’s quality of life for a few extra Lempiras.
Then suddenly my friend’s phrase made its entrance into my thoughts shocking me out of my negative chatter by creating the diversion I needed to break free of the spiral. And as always it was followed by the question that demanded to know, “What do you want?”
Yes, what did I have planned today that the celebration would interfere with? By this time I recognized that the mix of noise and music was probably just that, a celebration since its location logically would attest to a birthday, wedding or such. Instead of pursuing my ‘stinkin’ thinkin’ I should be grateful that I do not live across the street from the little restaurant. Soon some other neighbor who speaks the language far better than I would ask them to tone down the volume. And that’s exactly what happened. As I write this a gentle mix of Caribbean, Popular Spanish and Ranchero music floats through the yard. It’s easy volume now a pleasure for the entire neighborhood.
It was much later that a quieter mind was again visited by the same calm, commanding presence of the question. Hum, so what DO I want, I thought? I decided to sit quietly and explore the question, probing the dark recesses of my mind until the light of awareness began to illuminate the core issue. I came to realize that the question was challenging me to decide what it would take for me to release critical judgment of others so I could have the life I wanted. The temporal side of my friends message was a lesson I had learned years before; material things don’t make people happy. And beyond that, I had discovered that I could have any material thing I wanted just by deciding it and holding that positive intent. However there was a more important lesson that connected those two insights. It was that satisfaction is like gratitude; it helps create more, and that if those positive thoughts are expansive then negative thoughts would be constrictive energy.
So, there it was the question that insisted I bare my soul of ego and stand naked, vulnerable before the trappings of the world. As I surrendered to the question I could feel the fear rise to protect me from the unknown. From what possible reality might be held in the light of truth. Yet as I pushed aside the fear and gave space to not only the question but each ensuing question that followed, I was finally guided to the eventual answer. I want to achieve my ultimate potential. It was the answer that becomes its own question.
So, what do you want?
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