Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Drama . . .

I woke this morning once again with the sense of peace and serenity I've become accustomed to experiencing . . . How good it feels, and at times life seems so easy! I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a cancer patient I was driving to his treatment in October '08, and then a similar conversation with a woman who is a part of a group I belong to which meets every couple of weeks . . .

The topic was drama . . . the drama which we sometimes experience in our lives, be it imposed upon us by others, or perhaps self-generated . . . But whatever the source of the drama, drama is drama, and the less of it we have, the better . . .

Drama sucks us in like a vortex, and once we begin spinning in the vortex, it can be difficult to extricate ourselves . . . We can become so caught up in the drama of others, and it becomes like a drug, creating endless events which stimulate our emotions and alter our body chemistry . . . Drama becomes addictive, and we can't WAIT to see what will happen next as the drama plays out . . . What could possibly be the problem with this drama-filled existence? In short . . . PLENTY!!

My conversation with Alan wasn't particularly long, but as soon as he stepped into the vehicle that day last October, and he said hello, I knew intuitively he had something to say, and that we'd have a conversation of some import . . . Alan is a very intelligent man, and he began talking about his condition generally, and then he began to talk about how cancer has changed his life and in some ways, for the better . . . Cancer turns a life upside down to be sure, and changes everything . . . Alan spoke of some negatives, but he focused on the positives, which he felt were the biggest changes the cancer had induced in his life . . . He went on at length about the introspection and self-analysis . . . Alan came to the conclusion that he had to make some changes, and one change was to reduce the drama, which in his case was mostly externally imposed . . . So Alan simply severed the relationships with people and "friends" he felt were wearing him down with their drama . . . But, Alan also became aware of those things he was doing which were counterproductive in the drama-sense, and vowed to change them . . . In the end, he changed his THINKING, which changed his emotional state, and then altered some of his behaviours! He made the comment more than once that life began to feel easier, more peaceful, more in the flow of awareness and openness . . .

The conversation I had with Sylvia was a couple of weeks ago . . . Sylvia was married and then divorced six years ago, and by her own assessment, she was living a drama filled life up until two years ago . . . She began to see her life as an endless set of events in which she was being thrown from pillar to post by friends and acquaintances she described as toxic, and was sick and tired of it . . . But Sylvia, like Alan, was able to discern that she herself needed to undergo a transformation of sorts . . . She wisely came to the conclusion that her own habitual thought processes were harming more than helping her . . . A very smart human being!! Over time, she culled the drama and now lives a much happier life . . . And you know, just like Alan, she described her life as now being so much "easier"! There IS a central theme in this . . .

Dear Reader . . . There is so much we can do to simplify our lives, to open up to the flow of awareness, to remove obstacles to happiness, and adjust our THINKING so that we are living our lives with that beautiful sense of ease and grace . . . More about this in another blog!

Until next time . . . Ciao!!

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