One thing, one mind.

In “City Slickers” there is a moment when Curly turns to a character played by Billy Crystal and says the secret of life is one thing. He illustrates this by simply by holding up one finger. This can mean many things but too many that live in the world of peace and personal tranquility, understand this as a way of one mind.

How do you attain one mind? It is hard in this day and age. Many of us work an 8 hour day. Then we get home after traveling though traffic and errand running to collapse on the couch. Wait – don’t do it! You may say, but I deserve to rest, where is my remote? I need my TV, I need to be entertained. As I look toward the world of Zen and the Tao of life, I see so much mess tearing people away from themselves and the things they need to accomplish.

The mess of never knowing one’s self or reaching personal goals is a direct result of how we place focus on various circumstances and items throughout the day. Bear with me here. I am not implying all people have no sense of themselves, and I certainly am not implying that TV is always bad. But as of late, we have all of these “reality” TV shows. I have to laugh because what is reality for you is different than it is for your neighbor. You and your current place is real. Why do you need more reality than the present? Reality TV takes a whole bunch of good looking people and places them in pretty good situations. Mind you I am leaving out the references to the fear and challenge shows that force people eat bugs and intestines. Remember kiddies, “suffering is optional.” The shows I speak of are the ones where they get to live in nice houses and interact with other human beings with little or no stress. Well at least no stress from work or bill paying while being fed well for free. If I do watch I am always amazed at how many people are quick to degrade others that don’t follow the group. Yes, some of these shows require team play, but team play and personal involvement is different than altering one’s personality in the off time of the given adventures or missions. Fewer egos and more action will always get the job done. Why complain about people when rest is more important? Focus on the task at hand and winning becomes easy. This brings me back to being of one mind.

Being of one mind is hard to do, but once it is understood, so many wonderful discoveries about the self is revealed. -not to mention the amount of self esteem that is accumulated. Let’s say that you have a goal of losing weight, the focus should be on losing weight and actions it will take to get there. (*healthy and positive of course.) By recognizing this you have instilled change. Your life is now brand new. Celebrate for a moment as you break the mold of bad patterns. But in many cases something happens. A mental belief takes over. The belief that you will never lose the weight or it is too hard because the results don’t seem to be fast enough. Or you’re too tired to exercise, work was hard, or not enough time in the day, the list goes on. But if you look at the big picture you are already of one mind. -Just not the right mind. At the moment you are of one mind about failing and accepting excuses for “NOT” reaching the goal. But if you become of one mind about reaching the goal, everything will fall into place.

Becoming of one mind with a focus on one thing will be a hard battle. It’s a psychological war being fought 24/7 within the self as you may interact with temptation, strength, weakness, and courage. Becoming of one mind will take practice. The journey can begin right now. These words are simple thoughts and opinions about ideas and writings that have inspired me to make daily personal adjustments. If you are reading this you may be looking for a little inspiration, help, or encouragement to make some extra changes in your life or a thumbs up as you continue along the right path. Placing less emphasis on the excess things in our lives will reveal much about what fulfills our souls. The result of this cleansing will reveal one thing and one mind.