Recently I took my daughter on a driving tour of her childhood homes. We passed every home we had since she was 2. There were numerous places due to various circumstances. As we drove this poignant path a singular theme stood out.
“It is the few who know that the things which they see are only effects, and understand the causes by which these effects were brought into existence.”
As we drove the continuous litany of responses I developed over the years rang through my head with crystal recollection. I was sorrowful. My spirit felt the culmination of revisits with the past and the feeling of what it is to be a dog responding to a world from the only perspective it has ever known. I have faced life like a junkyard dog that has only known cruelty, biting at hands of circumstance that at times only meant my good.
When life wanted to hand me the juicy lesson, I snapped with the usual response: “I know this trick! I’ve seen it before.” This reaction caused me to make aspects of those years less than the very best for me and those I love.
“When man ceases to advance in his thoughts and ideals, his forces immediately begin to disintegrate and his countenance gradually registers these changing conditions.”
Ouch! There it is. The summation of working only with broken effects! I now gratefully recognize this and my compass is set. Transformation’s timing is always perfect. It is important to exercise the mental discipline of celebrating my greater good now, and giving up any thought of regret for the things that cannot be changed in the past.
