Happy August! According to the Zen calendar, August is the month of Spirit. When we get quiet and take time to nurture our spirit, we create space for renewal, clarity, growth, development, and positive change.

We are nearly three quarters through the year and this very month brings about a shift in our priorities. How much do you want to change? How much does it matter you ask? Is it trivial or is it a big deal? Ahhh…it all depends on how you view it. It’s never easy for any of us to have a perfect perspective. We are often more critical of other people’s lives than we ever are of our own. We see where they are overreacting and how they are failing to pay sufficient attention to the most pressing problems; others can do the same for us. But generally, when told about what we are doing wrong, we are all inclined to resist the advice. Perhaps, our circumstances challenge our current way of looking at life. Perhaps, we need to move on and start seeing the world through “different eyes.”

Priorities are those things we often take for granted when we temporarily “lose” our position in life. We allow the turbulence of time to get the better of us, knock us down, and blind us to what we really ought to be doing – or seeing. They say, “You can’t turn the clock back”, and who wants to anyway? However, some people seem to live in the past quite successfully. They dwell on the events of yesteryear and keep fighting battles that have long since been decisively won … or lost. Others go the other way, striving so hard to stay one step ahead of the game that they’re forever running around dealing with issues that have yet to actually crop up and may never arise. By keeping things sweet for someone else, we can sour things for ourselves. Whether we are bowing before the might of an employer or bending to accommodate the wishes of a loved one, we have to stop and ask if we might do better just to stand tall and proud.

Forget about yesterday … what are your priorities today? Position them to ensure that they now reflect a current need – YOU. August affords us the opportunity to explore a new perspective and adapt a new change. This month, avoid artificial stress and meditate your spirit on what you want and hope for. Your priorities will automatically become clearer.

Reference commentary of September 28, 2010: A Peep of Perspective

Love and Light for your Tuesday.