Fourth Form of Madness

Recently as I was flicking through newsfeed on Facebook I saw a posting by one of my friends, Buddhist Boot Camp, that really caught my attention. The entry said “May we close the gap between what we believe and how we act in the world”. Simple yet so effective if put into practice. So for the last few weeks I’ve been trying to at least notice the gap between my beliefs and how I act in the world and boy sometimes that gap is wider than the Grand Canyon!

Take for example my belief that alcohol is detrimental to your wellbeing. I truly believe this, however, give me just a whiff of of a cocktail and it’s goodbye beliefs and hello hangover more times than I care to remember. I’ve realised that my belief that you should cause no harm to any being could also do with a little bit of a workout particularly when I am at work. Let’s face it, work is often frustrating and usually a hotpot of simmering egos but that is no reason to voice your negative opinion about someone’s capabilities no matter how rude or clueless they appear to be. Best to take a breath, delete the career limiting email you are about to send them and go raid the lolly drawer. Okay scrap the last step but the last two suggestions remain solid.

Then there is my belief that relationships are the most important thing in life, the relationship you have with yourself and with others. Truly this has been my favourite mantra since I was about five. Lovely, I should get it on a t-shirt but first perhaps I should start acting like I mean it. There have been times in my life that I have focussed on everything else other than the state of my relationships, particularly the one with myself. This was definitely to my detriment. Even now I catch myself texting when I am talking to people on the phone vaguely managing to say “arh ha” at approximately the right interval without really having a clue what they are talking about (of course any friends or family reading this, I never have done this to “you” – hee hee). In the past, I’ve forgotten birthdays, promises and key events. These have all been because I just genuinely didn’t pay enough attention or care to the people that meant the most to me. And for each and every one of these oversights I sincerely apologise.

Luckily a major step in all behaviour change is awareness, so becoming aware of the gap between your beliefs and your behaviour in the world puts you one step closer to closing the gap. Why bother? What could be better than living authentically! Living your truth via the use of right thought, right words, right action. That is your thoughts, match your words which match your action. Oh the bliss of equilibrium. Look at nature or even your own bodies, everything is seeking a state of equilibrium. Why shouldn’t the natural state, the optimal state, of your beliefs and actions, not be a state of equilibrium?

Anyway that’s some food for thought. May you all enjoy your weeks and remember to “Mind the Gap” 🙂