Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Everyday Choices

To Pie, or Not to Pie...

Every day I'm confronted with choices. Sometimes a few, sometimes hundreds.

I say that I want to do "the right thing". And if I listen honestly to myself, usually the right thing is pretty easy to figure out - I'm talking about on the most basic level.

And yet it's so easy to ignore the messages.

My lungs say, "I need you to take us out for a run." And all the other parts say, "Yeah, great idea, but...later."

My muse says, "Write!"; my mind says, "Sure, after you do a virus scan on this laptop. It sure is running slow."

Somehow, things seem to sneak in to make "the right choice" just a little bit harder. In the end, it really is my choice, and there are no excuses.

Not that I have anything against pie, mind you -- in fact, quite the contrary.
I just wonder, why is it that the choice always seems to sneak around to become, "Lemon pie, or cherry pie?",

when it starts out as "Pie, or no pie?"

6 comments:

  1. You know, you can always write on paper while the virus scan is running :)

    Myself, I use the virus scan time for reading-heavy research.

    But I still have trouble with that pie or no pie scenario.

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  2. Life really becomes simple once you look at it. You are still detoxing from the life you lived. It is not an easy thing, boy did I learn that.

    You will falter back into the systematic things that were comfortable and than again realize, nope its not what I want!

    Relax do what is needed. Find the motivation within you and your close family. Life really can be as simple or as complex as you choose.

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  3. Total moral collapse?

    I myself am having trouble with my project on being just for the sake of being. SO much of my life has revolved around having a "purpose." In the Buddhist sense you could say that I have "clung" to the idea of having a purpose.(Clinging being the root cause of suffering.) The self defined purpose was to be of service, to help heal others, the world, etc. But clinging to it, focusing so much meaning on it has brought suffering to me. Caused me to cease to exist at the end of our 2 year program.

    And so I try to let go of the clinging, and be present in the moment. But then realize that I inadvertently break the peace by trying to find greater purpose again. And THEN I realize just how insignificant my life really is. It is humbling in fact. Sure spirit has given me all sorts of grandiose messages about my divine purpose in life, but as I see it, those are about being and not about doing. So often I re-interpret them as something I should be "doing."

    Perhaps my greatest gift to the world is in accepting and embracing my insignificance. Perhaps only then am I free to truly be my divine self instead of trying to accomplish some sense of divine purpose. Perhaps a divine purpose is something one just is, not something one must do/accomplish.

    Who taught me I needed to accomplish something anyway?

    And as to your question about pie and such:
    The answer is because you made a choice. Each time the question evolves it is because you made a choice. As someone once said "It takes decision, even to hesitate." Own your choices, be who you are. It is not right or wrong. It simply is. Tomorrow you can be someone completely different... if you choose. (But do you really want to be someone completely different????)

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  4. Cherry pie, totally.

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  5. From some of the comments on the Facebook link to this post, I was counseled that "pie or no pie" is the wrong question, and to try instead something like "pie or abs". Committing to the absence of something is harder that choosing the presence of something. Pretty useful advice.

    Tim, I do believe you are right. There is a simplicity that underlies the complexity, and perhaps what is unfolding for me is that realization, and how to align myself to it, perhaps for the first time.

    Therese (no, it wasn't a total moral collapse; sorr - that FB post was a sensationalist headline), it does seem that the question evolves each time I make a (sometimes subtle) choice. That's an interesting insight.

    Divine purpose? Yikes. I think realizing our "being-ness" is essential to accomplishing our divine purpose, just as "doing-ness" is.

    Spinoza said, "To be all we are capable of being, and to become all we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life." For a very long time, I thought those two clauses were essentially the same thing. But they're WAAAAY not. The second part was easy for me. The first part continues to be a challenge to both understand and to live.

    Let's see what happens next, shall we?

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  6. Is that THE Tim Biggane commenting? If it is, I agree with you--Ireland got the shaft. FIFA has no backbone. Happy hunting my friend.

    I agree with your comment. WE chose to make our life as complicated as we want. I think most of us need to simplify our lives now. Complex life often is bad for our health.
    Peace my friend. Long-time no see.

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