No One Is Doing Anything to Me

I am increasingly involved with meditation and increasingly amazed, stunned, perplexed by the fact that the practice is so centered around being in the moment.  It's such a simple concept.  Be where you are.  You aren't anywhere else, after all.  Why is it so hard to do!

I've been pondering all of the friends I have and have had in my life.  I've been richly blessed and I need to remember that instead of slotting everyone into this kind of friend or that kind of friend and then expecting a certain kind of response to any of my interactions.  People are busy.  People are thinking about themselves.  They're not thinking about me.  They're not doing anything to me.

I mention again the friend who envisions a cord or tether connecting him to everyone he has known in his life.  Sometimes the tether is long and sometimes it's short, or it's strong or weak.  I have a tendency to reach out to a lot of people a lot of the time and this makes me part of who I am.  The pitfall I need to avoid is that most people aren't so proactive and most people are glib and brief in their responses.  Used to piss me off.  I felt like I was giving more than I was getting (and the irony of my obliviousness to what is, after all, a core principle in Alcoholics Anonymous - being of service - is not lost on me).  What works best in a practical sense is trying to focus on what is right in front of my fucking face instead of trying to corrall friends - often close, much-beloved friends - into a call and response situation that I'm dictating.  Don't worry about who you can't see when someone in need of a kind word or smile or pat on the back is right in front of you, even when it's not the cool, hip person you really want to be talking to.