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๐Ÿง™ fantasy and reality ๐Ÿ•บ

Posted: Thu, Oct 29, 2020 09:00:01 AM

the fantasy? that everything in my life can and will go my way. the reality? i have issues at work that are causing me to work late and pay far too much attention to finding what it is that is going wrong. the fantasy is that i can get paid for doing nothing and the reality is that when stuff goes wrong, it is up to me to look for a cause and correct it. this should play nicely into my “need” to “fix” things, but it has grown tiresome and i am weary of the endless meetings and questions, from on-high and from the client. which seems to illustrate, at least to me, that what i “think” is challenging and exciting can soon become drudgery. after working late last night, i chose to sleep in a bit and as a result, got that extra hour of sleep that i needed to be at m,y best today. perhaps, today will be the day i GET to actually have a bit of free time this afternoon. that may be an unmet expectation, but since i decided i would be “grumpy,” less of the time, i certainly have been. it is nice being freed from the slavery of reactions to the events of the day. well perhaps freedom is too strong of a word and borders on fantasy. better put, i can choose to react and make myself miserable, so it freedom to choose actions to the events that comprise the reality of my daily life. here is where i insert a bit of fantasy, by prefacing the next statement with: “it would be nice IF…”
of course it would be, and if that happens i can have a moment of respite from the toils and troubles that i choose to turn into really BIG things. the fact that i can turn minor irritations and what i am expected to do at work, into catastrophes, is a symptom of my inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy, even after a few days clean. perhaps my late night will pay dividends this morning and the outcome will be exactly what i desired, perhaps not. what i do know is that IF i do not want to pay the nicotine tax at work, then i have to stop smoking. if i do not want my life to spin down the tubes into the smoky haze of active addiction, then i need to live an active program. if i want my resting pulse rate top continue to hover in the low 60's and upper 50's and my “spare tire” to continue to shrink, then i need to keep running. that is just how things work. i cannot wish myself into a fantasy world, but i can improve my real world by using the little power i have and applying it to my life, just for today.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

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Tao Te Ching

☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

The Tao Teh King, or The Tao and Its Characteristics
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 1

1) If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would
be better for the people a hundredfold. If we could renounce our benevolence
and discard our righteousness, the people would again become filial
and kindly. If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard
our (scheming for) gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers.