But they all boil down to a pretty simple concept. If I'm taking care of myself, then I'm giving the best I can, no matter what I get in return. I don't want to have any regrets, choose to do things or not do them out of spite, manipulation, to even scores...it's all to difficult to think about, work out and keep straight in my head. It's a heck of a lot easier to just treat people the same: with honesty, kindness and respect.
The neat thing about it is that since I've been working on that, my mind is uncluttered, my burden is lighter, and I get a lot of what I give, back to me. Maybe not from the exact people I've been kind and honest and respectful to. They may not know any better than to behave the way they're behaving. In fact, that's probably why they do what they do. They don't KNOW any better. But I get kindness, honesty and respect from other places in the universe...lots of places...and sometimes, from those people I struggled to get it from for so long.
Yes, you could say that I have lived a full life...full of all the good and bad things that happen in life. And who knows, ultimately, what's good and what's bad?
You wanted a story: here's the good luck/bad luck story:
A long time ago, a farmer's horse ran away. The neighbors said, "Oh what bad luck, to lose your only horse!" The man said only, "Good luck, bad luck, who knows?"
Some time later, the farmer's horse returned, followed by a herd of wild horses. "What good luck you have," his neighbors said then. "Good luck, bad luck, who knows?" he responded.
One day when his son was attempting to break one of the wild horses, he was thrown off and broke his leg. "What bad luck!" said the neighbors. The man's reply was the same: "Good luck, bad luck, who knows?"
But when the army came through the town and took all the young men to fight in a war, they left the son with the broken leg behind. "What good luck," the neighbors said.
Good luck, bad luck? Who knows? God knows.
And so it goes...
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