Think, Think, Think

 "We come into this world crying while all around us are smiling.  May we so live that we go out of this world smiling while everybody around us is weeping."  Persian Proverb

Directly from my morning meditation book this day:

"Do we matter to others?  Have our lives touched the lives of others?  Do we think of ourselves as important and worthwhile?  

There are many lives we touch in a day, a week, months, or years.  Each of these lives was meant to touch ours.  We are meant to exist.  We are children of our Higher Power, who are watched constantly with love and concern.

We do matter to those around us.  Birth, as well as death, herald the entrance and the exit of a life filled with meaning and purpose.  We were meant to be here now, not only for ourselves but for the many lives around us.  Our lives are important and worthwhile to all the people we know."

I hear people all the time speak as if their lives have little meaning.  I understand this.  Sometimes I feel like I'm going through the motions, humdrumming the routine of an ordinary life, not noticed or appreciated by others.  Not too often anymore, I'm happy to report.  I've quit trying to be profound and important and started to be kind and present.  I have young people who work at my coffee shop who are glad to see me and it goes up from there.  So let's try to remember to tell people who much we care for them more frequently than we do.

The topic of today's meeting was a reminder to be on the lookout for our tendency to overthink things.  I get that.  I'm a great thinker, thinking great thoughts.  My M.O. when I was still drinking was Drink and Think, Drink and Think.  I didn't do much with any of my great thoughts, however, so I was pleased to hear the A.A. slogan "You can't think your way into good action but you can act your way into good thinking."  I'm reminded that the Big Book does not have chapters that are labeled "How We Think" or "Into Thinking" or "More About Thinking."  And I need to remember that the function of our brains is to think and there's a lot of good reasons for that - we're watching out for danger and putting together sound plans and remembering important shit.  And if we've lived a whole life of letting our brains run hog-wild then they're naturally going to be resistant if we try to rein them in.  I remind myself often that I can have trouble quieting my mind for two consecutive breaths when I try to meditate.  That sucker just fires up with the most random thoughts.