2018-03-29-Living Better With Yourself

Session

Lesson

Teacher: Prolotheos: “Living is an interactive technique with the environment, with yourself and others. You are conditioned by the environment, but you can also modify it to your convenience. You are conscious of yourself and relate to the self by reflecting and making decisions. Others prompt you with the most meaningful kinds of relationships — personal interaction, and this includes God. Life may become stressful, disappointing and extremely distasteful if not put under control and managed wisely. Today, let us discuss how to live better with the self. Here are some suggestions:

• 1. — Let Small Things Go.

“Granted, small things can become big problems in life, but only if you let them become big and give them more importance than they deserve. On letting small things go, first, make sure what is and what is not important in your life. What is important to some may not be so important to others; therefore, it is an individual assessment. Small things may be outside of your range of decisions — things that may be big in scope, but over which you have no control — you cannot alter them. Or, small things are those that are not worthy of your reaction, because it may just be a waste of time or your response may make them worse. Every event has a consequence; however, some situations are better left alone. On determining what is small or not, pay attention to relationships, finances and health issues — usually those are not small and should not be left alone.

• 2. — Laugh at Yourself.

“It is dangerous to take yourself too seriously. Simply speaking, it shows a selfish and individualistic attitude, if not an exaggerated concept of self-importance. Laughing at the self must be a genuine attitude, not out of resentment or pretentiously. You really have to see yourself as silly by doing something that is really ridiculous. But, if you don’t see it, it won’t work. Irony, sarcasm or regret will not do it. In fact, only a balanced sense of your own importance will enable you to laugh at yourself. To be able to laugh at yourself, you must do some reflection to find out how ridiculous a particular situation really is. All of us, evolutionary creatures on the way to perfection — but not yet there — can do it because the alternative is to think we are perfect like the Gods and that is pretty ridiculous.

• 3. — Live a Day at a Time.

“Can we really do it differently? We can only live one day at a time — this time called Present. Many people surely do try to live more than a day at a time, by attempting to stay in the past or projecting themselves on the future. None of these are possible. All that happens is a failure to live or a failure to not live in the only dimension in which we can really live — the present. From the past we get experiences and by looking towards the future we exercise our hope; they together help us to keep our living in the present wiser and hopeful. Living a day at a time requires focusing on the tasks at hand, on the routines of the day-to-day daily duties. Life is many times very stressful and the temptation to avoid it is great. Face the challenges of your daily living with courage and enjoy leisure and relaxation. Living a day at a time is all you can do — why not enjoy it?

Closing

“Therefore, my pupil, living better is possible if you make the right use of these three simple techniques: Let small thing go, that is, know how to determine what is small in your life and don’t let them grow out of proportion. Genuinely laughing at yourself is evidence that you have reached a balanced perspective of the self. You can find your own silliness and laugh at it. You can only live a day at a time, learn to do it right and enjoy it. I am Prolotheos — your teacher and tutor on High. Peace!”