Today I am grateful for my enemies — for those that persecute me directly, as well as those who place more subtle (yet just as ominous) obstacles in my path …

I am thankful for all the partners and friends over the years who have abandoned me — those who have rejected my chosen Way, those who have ridiculed my beliefs and those who have ignored my pleas for assistance.  It is these people who have made it possible for me to transcend my tougher times; to blossom into the man I have chosen to become.  It is these “enemies” to whom I owe the most — as they are the ones who have provided me with my most difficult opportunities to “Love anyway”.  And in those moments when I chose to do so, I was strengthened beyond measure.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” are unkind or insincere … and thereby emPower all our subsequent acts of Caring.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” are critical of our decisions or condemn our lifestyles … and thereby emPower all our subsequent acts of courageous Faith in our Way.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” abandon us … and thereby emPower all our subsequent acts of Loyalty.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” worry about us and others reject our chosen Paths … and thereby emPower all our subsequent acts of Positivity & Persistence.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” condemn who we are & others misrepresent what we have done … and thereby emPower all our subsequent acts of Forgiveness.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” tempt us to stray into selfishness … and thereby emPower all our subsequent choices to selflessly Care for others instead.

*Some of our life’s “enemies” attempt to control our days or manipulate our moments … and thereby emPower all the choices we make that reaffirm our Freedom.

*And some of our life’s “enemies” want us to falter in the face of Friendship or fear when confronted with Intimacy … and thereby emPower all our later acts of unconditional Love.

I am thankful for them all – for all those who distract me in all those moments when I am on the verge of re-attaining a sense of Oneness:  friends calling me to “take a break”, TV shows that seek to “entertain”, newspaper articles designed to “keep me informed”, associates who encourage me to gossip behind others’ backs, those who profess to be bored and need “more excitement”, and even those who feel the need to analyze others in order to “figure them out” …  These are the “enemies” who encourage me to glance without looking, to hear without listening, to speak without thinking, to touch without feeling, to do without paying attention, and/or to focus on others’ “failures” or life’s “deficiencies” … They provide me with challenges of great difficulty, and yet thereby emPower me in those moments when I choose instead to See what I gaze upon, to Hear what is said, to Know what I say, to Feel what I touch, to Attend to the tasks I engage; essentially — to concentrate my efforts on honing & polishing my own innate perfection — and my own only.

*I am thankful as well for the societal conventions of my culture and the expectations of my peers that both strive continually to keep me “in line” — in harmony with their versions of what is “normal” and “responsible” and “productive”, for it is pressures such as these that make all my actions taken outside those walls and all those taken above those limitations that much more courageous — and thereby that much more potent.

*And finally, I am thankful for my own internal “demons”:

… the desire to constantly analyze my moments instead of simply living in them;

… the hopes and attachments that tempt me to wish for what “could be” instead of reveling in what allReady IS;

… the innate self-centeredness that has me yearning  for “what’s best for myself” instead of leading me to engage in what is good for others;

… the envy that has me seeing others’ successes as my own defeat instead enJoying them as our victories;

… the indifferent apathy that has me protecting myself from others’ traumas instead reaching out in empathy to lessen their pain;

… the cowardly dishonesty that has me developing a persona designed to please others instead of letting my True Self shine forth (and thereby pleasing my God within);

… the arrogance that has me believing that my own goals are more worthy instead of the humility that allows me to engage the opportunities already placed before me;

… the familiarity that has me often bored with the “normal” instead of witnessing the miracles of Beauty that constantly surround me;

… and the doubt that freezes me into action while waiting for “a better time” instead of boldly going forth to simply Do Good anyway.

 

For all of these ego-based hindrances I am grateful, for it is they that give me the opportunities needed to transcend both difficulty and temptation — and thereby allow me to rise into the glory of what it means to be a true Human Being while doing so.

 

And so it is that I climb to my proverbial mountaintop, take a deep breath filled with profound reverence, and let loose with a long & loud –

Thank Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

 

Filed under: 40 Days of Gratitude by Scaughdt