I stumbled across this post and thought I should keep a copy for future reference, so here it is, but the thing was fixed width so I had to play with it.
My notes
http://www.radicalhappiness.com/all-blog-articles/365-we-are-all-doing-the-best-we-can
| We Are All Doing the Best We Can |  |  |  |
| Written by Gina Lake |
| Friday, 04 May 2012 18:33 |
|
When we judge ourselves or other people, we are assuming that we or someone else can be or should be different. Many factors contribute to how we respond and behave in any moment, factors such as personality (as described in the astrology chart), maturity, soul age, genetic inheritance, past experiences, desires, beliefs, self-images, and other perceptions and conditioning
(learned behavior). In many respects, all of this conditioning
(collective ego) predetermines or at least makes it likely that we will respond a certain way in any given moment. Until these patterns, beliefs, and other conditioning are seen for what they are, we are likely to respond and behave according to them
(learn to watch our thoughts). So when we catch ourselves judging another person, it is wise to take this into account. If you were that person with that personality, that past, those genetics, that soul age, and that conditioning, you would likely respond and behave similarly. To expect people to be any different than they are is to not appreciate that they are doing the best they can, given their history, personality, body-mind, and conditioning.
When we examine our own past and behavior, we can have the same compassion: Could I really have responded any differently than I did at the time? Not really.
(first time through life, we make mistakes, some we recognize as mistakes, some not) Many factors lead up to every response we have to life, and until we become conscious
(awake) of these factors and make a conscious effort to choose differently, we are likely to continue to act out our conditioning unconsciously.
Waking up is largely a matter of becoming aware of our programmed personality and conditioning and then aligning ourselves with the wisest and most loving response in the moment rather than following the path of least resistance—our conditioning
(programmed into us by other collective egos) . We wake up out of the conditioned self—the ego—and see that we have a wider range of choices than the conditioned self allows. This is freedom. We become free to choose to follow our conditioning and programming or not. Some of our conditioning and programming isn’t a problem, so we keep what is useful and move beyond what is not.
(to our authentic personality, not what we had to be to do the career, job, position, profession, or what we did out of training, without questioning)
What makes this freedom possible is becoming aware of who we really are. We are not our personality, what we believe, what we have experienced in the past, what we desire, or what we think.
We are what is experiencing this character who has a personality, body-mind, beliefs, desires, a past, opinions, preferences, and hopes and dreams. We move
in and out of identification with this character at will
(at will after awaking, but we were in character only before because we did not realize we had a choice), all the while knowing that it is a character we are playing. Once we are aware that we are what is beyond the character, we can have much more fun with this character, and this character can become a much more loving and kind person. This is the greatest blessing of all—to wake up out of this character and rediscover life anew as that which is enlivening this character and enjoying the play of it all.
(Become our authentic self)
Our judgments assume our character and everybody else’s character can or should be different from what it is in any moment, that we could make different choices and behave differently. But this freedom to choose other than the conditioned response is only possible after we have realized who we really are and have seen the conditioned self for what it is, and even then it may be challenging to not identify with the conditioned self.
When we not identified with the conditioned self and we are in touch with our true nature, life feels lighter and is recognized as the gift it is. It was so much work to try to get this imperfect character to be more perfect. No matter what it did, it was never good enough. Once we recognize who we are, we accept the imperfections of this character (which are actually perfect!) and those of others. The character can be whatever it is, while we bask in the perfection of our being and of all of life. All is well—even these characters and everything they have ever done. It is all life unfolding as it is meant to.
(eating is learned behavior, conditioned into us. We start eating when and only when we become hungry, not by the clock.) Is another cause of obesity the society obsession with time?
