Most games have two sides and we identify with one side or the other for one reason or another. Now if our side wins, we win and if they lose, we lose. Did you know though, that in the original Olympic Games the athletes competed not against each other but against their own previous best? They could all be winners.
Relationships
Relationships are an exchange of energy, maybe of love in the form of sharing, listening, co-operating or caring; of power in the form of encouragement; or of light in the form of understanding, wisdom and truth. In healthy relationships there is an equal exchange. It is when this becomes unequal that the game begins!!!
Relationships are described as being ‘a give and take’. I hit the ball into your court and you are meant to return it, I want or expect a certain return (attention, love, praise etc). Having hit it I wait for it to come back. Then if it doesn’t come back I may start doing all sorts of things for it to be returned to me; manipulate, blackmail, use anger, withdraw love etc. In healthy relationships we give and receive. Receiving is very different from taking.
Consider, even when the ball has been returned to me have I really won? In fact we lost the moment we hit the ball into someone’s court. Why? If you are feeling unloved or unappreciated who is it that is not loving or appreciating you? You. Even if you do return the ball it is only a lasting return. Our first relationship is with our own thoughts and our first responsibility is to love our selves, for this we need to know and be married to our own truth.
Do you know at what point in your life you stopped acting in your own best interests? Your inner voice (conscience) is the voice of your own best interests. It may be small things like: you don’t really need that 4th cup of coffee, leave that 2nd slice of chocolate cake or go on be bothered to brush your teeth. When we listen to this voice everything becomes win-win. When I look after my best intrests I become less needy and more content. Only when we are content with ourselves and feeling full (that we have more than enough) are we truly able to look around, see the need and give.
This is also in terms of peace and love and happiness. My soul has peace, love and happiness contained within it. Love isn’t something I have to ‘get’ it is within my soul, I just need to tap into it. At any moment in time we can tap into, experience and share this peace, love and happiness.
The method to do this is meditation. See yourself as a being that is completely full, as deep as an ocean. Watch your thoughts from down below as if they are waves on the surface of this ocean that you are. Sometimes it will be rubbish that floats by, let it float by. Don’t attach to it or identify with it. Also let any rubbish within me rise to the surface and drift of. Unhappiness is in me, it isn’t me. Any problem is a wave coming and going. In meditation know your depth, silence and power.
