Super Glue

Some of the more surprising people in our lives will say that they are happy with life as it is. They are content. It is their feeling that good enough is good enough. Their families and friends, their vocations and avocations are sufficient.

What more could they want?

To which so many of us reply, Where to begin?

There is always more, bigger, better. A fancier new car. A castle to replace our homes. Jets and furs and servants to take care of our every whim. All of this instead of an older model car. A home that suits our needs rather than impresses people we have never met. Keeping our feet on the ground. Being happy with what we already have. Doing our own cleaning and cooking.

Because that is at the core of it all.

Adulthood is challenging. Being a spiritually mature adult can be, in the best of times, even more challenging.

What do we do when life in general feels a little loose around the edges? And that the insanity of life keeps creeping in. Maybe galloping in.

We know we’re doing what is right. We’re walking down our side of the street. We’re patient in traffic and in store lines. Maybe we’re feeling antsy about the world not being run precisely our way, but we take a deep breath and go on.

Regardless of all the days when we know in the pit of our guts that the right thing to do would be to get some sheet therapy, to simply stay home in bed, we proceed with life. Because, in spite of what we feel, we honestly know that moving on is the best way to make progress in life.

There are times when we know our lives are getting out of control. That is when we need to put in extra effort on ourselves and our world. We don’t just need a bit of divine super glue. We need a whole gallon.

It’s up to us to reach outside of ourselves. To make the effort to either patch ourselves up or get the help we need to pull ourselves together.

And isn’t that just a little bit annoying.

For excuses I’ve never entirely grasped, at different times of the year I witness an explosion of bad behavior. Cars speeding through neighborhoods. Unthinking rudeness to familiars and strangers alike. An unthinking lack of civility.

One of the least complicated ways I have of explaining it to myself is that all of the dust and pollen in the air clogs up people’s brains and hearts, not just sinuses. The ability to think, feel and be spiritually aware of our world becomes clogged. Minute pollen-like particles fill up our heads and hearts. We lose our abilities to live clearly in favor of selfishness.

How does that work out for us in the end?

Not so well.

Both our spirituality in general and our personal spiritual creativity become lost in a cloud of mere human wants. If we aren’t careful, our wants overshadow who we really are. The person inside the skin gets lost.

The real us.

It is then a choice. Do we want to stay stuck in our messy thinking and behavior? Are we willing to permit ourselves to be denigrated by this madness?

Or do we have the audacity to push forward?

Instead of a new car or home, we can give ourselves permission to be more, bigger, better individuals than we are today.

It’s okay.

You have permission to be happy. You don’t have to settle for the things you have. Nobody’s ever died and taken their toys with them.

You can walk, run, ride a bike, swim or just sit still. Whatever you need to do to stop the noise inside. Whatever it takes to hear nothing at all that sounds like you.

Maybe there is no sound. That is okay.

Maybe there is something. Not necessarily a voice. Not exactly even a sound.

Just something that tells you that you are okay to be you. Even with all the spiritual pollen trying to fly into your brain and soul, it’s just fine for you to be precisely who you are.

To be the real you that you were always meant to be.