Taught to the tune of a

I am constantly assaulted by sayings on Facebook meant to make my life better.  Each one seems to mean well and be aimed at improving my thoughts, but . . .

I am one of those people whose inner life is so rich, and complicated, and real feeling that the outer world can easily overwhelm me.  I definitely do not have a one track mind.  In fact, it is just the opposite.  It's like living in a skyscraper of thoughts where only the elevator keeps me sane.  There, in the center point, I find the peace I need to travel between the others.

I used to like to draw floor plans for houses, now I like to knit in the winter, while I watch television.  It is something that helps me relax because it usually occupies my mind enough to keep me focused away from rants or thoughts that pop into any blank places. At bedtime I read until I can't keep my eyes open.

I have tried meditation and centering prayer and they help, but not with mantras.  The only mantras I have ever found truly successful are from Thich Nhat Hanh.  They keep me in the moment and force me to focus only because I need to remember the words as I actually breathe: Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”

Otherwise I must focus on letting excess thoughts blow away, "like a feather on the breath of God," over and over and over and I fall asleep, perhaps because it is so exhausting.

Learning to live inside one's own body can be difficult and it is something the world generally doesn't help with.  A good parent helps a child find his own inner being and live with it successfully. 

No saying, or proverb, or set of encouraging words can replace, "To thine own self be true;" without this knowledge life is a crap shoot, an iffy proposition that leaves us perspiring to the tune of other people's "inspiring" words until we expire.