Today’s card is a great one because it brings up a lot of things that I have been thinking about lately and it touches on a few of my favorite things that I like to tell people.  The card days “It is not my work to control others.”  On the back it says “Trying to limit anything about anything defies the Laws of the Universe.  It cannot be done.  You cannot control others, but you can control, and create, your own reality.”  So, so very true.  But scary for some people. Some people can’t stand the idea of just not being in control, period.  Knowing that you have some part to play in your own happiness but not being able to directly control every working part of it is even scarier.

First let’s think about this in a larger sense.  You can’t control how everyone around is going to react to something, for example.  You can do or say something that you think is wonderfully brilliant only to find that some of the people you would have expected to reply in agreement are in great disagreement with you.  There’s nothing you can do and it’s not your job to tell them what path to walk and how to react to things.  But sometimes when this like this happens we become hurt, angry, and generally upset.  This can lead to having a bad day, a bad week, and arguing with people we might otherwise be on the best of terms with.  How does this happen?

This didn’t happen because you lost control of how that person reacted.  It happened because you lost control of how you reacted.  We always have the option to react or respond to things.  Our kneejerk reaction is often to react.  We immediate respond in word, thought, or emotion.  Instead we need to maybe take a deep breath and find a proper way to respond.  When we respond we’re often less judgmental and more in control of ourselves.  By not reacting and rather responding we’re able to create a better sense of peace around any otherwise difficult situation.

Some people need to live this life in a way that is going to sometimes be quite contradictory to your own.  You know the saying “better to light a candle than curse the darkness”?  Some people will always choose the curse the darkness and there’s nothing you can do to make them light that candle.  It is up to you how you wish to react or respond to them.  In the end the results or fallout from these sorts of encounters fall on our own shoulders, not on anyone else.
Current Mood:  reflective