Take Responsibility…

Posted by Paul Reynolds on Oct 4, 2023 in Blog, Inspired Readings, Western Insight | Comments Off on Take Responsibility…

Take inventory of the extent to which your “No” reflex dominates your life. Notice for 24 hours (even in your dreams) how often
you say or think:
“No.”
“That’s not right.”
“I don’t like them.”
“I don’t agree with that.”
“They don’t like me.”
“That should be different from what it is.”
Then retrain yourself to say “YES” at least 51 percent of the time.
Start the transformation by saying “YES” aloud 22 times….. right now.
You don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be. You don’t have to
live up to anyone’s expectations. There’s no need to strive for a kind of
perfection that’s not very interesting to you. You don’t have to believe in
ideas that make you sad or tormented,
and
you don’t have to feel emotions that others try to manipulate you into feeling.

I kick my own ass and wash my own brain.
I push my own buttons and trick my own pain.
I burn my own flags and roast my own heroes.
I mock my own fears and cheer my own zeroes.

Nothing can stop me from teasing my shadow.
I’m full of empty and backwards bravado.
My wounds are tattoos that reveal my true beauty.
I turn tragic to magic and make bliss my duty.

I honor my faults till they become virtues.
I play jokes on my nightmares
till I’m sure they won’t hurt you.
I sing anarchist lullabies to lesbian trees
and love songs with punch lines
to anonymous seas.

I won’t accept gifts that infringe on my freedom.
I shun sacred places that stir up my boredom.
I change my name daily, pretend to be nobody.
I fight for the truth if it’s majestically rowdy.

I brag about what I can’t do and don’t know.
I take off my clothes to those I oppose.
I’m so far beyond lazy, I work like a god.

I’m totally crazy;

in fact that’s my job.

—– Robert Breszny
author of Pronoia the antidote for Paranoia

Posted by | Paul Reynolds

“Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion or cultural system…..” - Rumi

For over 30 years Paul Reynolds has collected and shared inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Embracing the philosophy that at the core of all these expressions is the reminder that we are loved and supported every moment. This unending stream of inspiration, imagination and wisdom is posted via his weekly ‘Living the Question Blog’, which has become ‘home’ for those discoveries. If you would like to receive the readings and share them with those you feel will benefit, please fill out the ‘Subscribe’ form to the right and Paul’s selections will come to your email every Friday.