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Today's
quotation:
Study to be quiet, that is, to dismiss all bustle
and worry out of your inward life.
Study also to do your own business, and do not try to do the
business of other people. A
great deal of fleshly activity is expended in trying to do other
people’s business. It
is often very hard to sit still when we see our friends mismanaging
matters, according to our ideas, and making dreadful blunders.
But the divine order, the best human order, is for each of us
to do our own business and to refrain from meddling with the business
of anyone else.
Hannah Whitall Smith
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Today's
Meditation:
Sit
still and mind your own business-- these are words that we
would expect from a parent when we're quite young, aren't
they? But in many ways, they are words that if we
can heed them, can help us to live our lives in a much
more pleasing way, that can help us to be much more
content and our lives to be much more fulfilling.
I
have to fight to sit still. I always want to be
doing something, always want to be active. But the
times when I force myself to sit still and relax, the
times when I take the time to allow my body and brain to
take a break from their perpetual activity, are the times
when I can find peace, when I can feel the beauty of peace
and quiet. After a few minutes of sitting still and
being quiet, I start to see the world in a much different
way-- in effect, it's only then that I actually start to
see the world at all. In my busy, hurried times, I
see very little at all. And as time goes on and I
work at it more, that peace is with me more and more, and
I don't have to work so hard to find it.
Likewise,
the less I concern myself with trying to help others avoid
their mistakes and blunders, the more peace I also
feel. Trying to mind other people's business is a
tremendous misuse of my energy-- their lives aren't under
my control, so why should I try to control their actions,
no matter what I feel about what they should be
doing? Their lives are their lives, and my life is
much more fulfilling if I don't interfere in their
personal learning experiences. If they ask for help,
I'll be there, but unless they do so, what they do truly
is none of my business.
Sit
still and mind your own business-- these aren't words for
children who are misbehaving, but words that can change
our lives for the better, if only we would heed them.
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