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Should or Shouldn’t … The Voice of Ego

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Ego has it’s own particular devices for stealing us away from the present moment and carrying us off into places that don’t actually exist. One such place is the imaginary land of “Shouldville”.

Shouldville is the resistant state of consciousness we find ourselves in when we find ourselves thinking in terms of “should” or “shouldn’t”. Whenever we’re thinking life shouldn’t be the way it is, we’re in conflict with reality. When we say things like, “He shouldn’t do that …” or She shouldn’t have said that” or “I should be some other way”, we're struggling against the way life is. It’s like shaking a fist at God, with, “This is NOT the way it should be …” as if we know exactly how it should be. In other words, we’re arguing with Reality – and there’s no winning such an argument!

Life is the way it is and no amount of resistance to it will change that! (Have you noticed?:)) It doesn’t matter whether we like it or agree with it or not – it just IS!

Resisting reality only creates unhappiness. It doesn’t matter how right we may think we are … or how many people may agree with us that it should be different, it will go right on being the way it is. The only thing that this approach to life brings is misery. We cannot find peace as long as we are living in Shouldville.

Acceptance of life on life’s terms is what does work. Aligning with reality brings peace. This doesn’t mean we “give up” or “settle for” something uncomfortable in our lives. We can certainly decide we want to do it differently next time … but it does mean that we can surrender to what is now and come to terms with the way things are RIGHT NOW.

This attitude not only brings us back into the present moment where we can respond better … it also supports an important question … “since it is the way it is … and since life is happening FOR us … then how is it that this is the way it’s supposed to be?” This question helps us to focus on the gifts in any given situation rather than go on bellyaching about how unfair life is.

As Byron Katie says, “How do we know it should be the way it is? Because it is.”

Blessings, Lynne

Reality versus Shouldville

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Since I trust that there is a plan greater than my own … and that Reality calls the shots in a way that ultimately serves me best, I can trust that what is happening today is what is supposed to be happening.

This means, that in spite of the ego voice that says I should be further along or that I'm supposed to be doing something different, reality says otherwise. It shows me where I am today. That is its job.

“Shouldville” is what I call the name of the place where ego resides in us. Like ego it is illusion – In present moment reality (which IS real) it does not exist. Our shoulds and shouldn'ts are actually mental demands against reality. They can only create misery, because no matter how right we may think we are about the way we think our lives (and the lives of others) should be (or how many others may agree with us about it) it will still be what exactly what it is – nothing more or less. Fighting reality with should's only makes us feel bad – Reality still wins, every time.

I think of Reality as being Source Energy-in-Action. The world is designed to be the perfect unfolding reflection of our own minds. Our present moment reality shows us what our internal state is. This means that the world is made, not to be a utopia, but to do what it does perfectly … that is, to be a mirror that shows us our own thoughts in the flesh. In other words, the world materializes our beliefs into three dimensional form for our enhanced consciousness and viewing pleasure. This is its function. Stressful life happenings are messengers that have come to point us inward to our own corresponding mental limitation.

What I'm doing, thinking or expressing in the world right now is going to be the harvest of yesterdays mental state. This means that WHATEVER I'm doing is necessary for where I am – My behavior and feelings will truly reflect my own mind. Knowing this allows me to look at myself and the world around me less through eyes of judgment of how things ought to be and more as bringing opportunities for self-realization.

The law is that we each act out of our beliefs and what we experience is the outcome of those ideas. No exceptions. No argument. Every single person I encounter or experience I have is God's will. God's will is to show me, in outer form, the confines of my own mind. Source attracts my limiting beliefs to me in some external form so that I can make a free will choice about whether to adjust my frequency to align with a higher vibration for peace or to choose to go on believing the painful thoughts that promote a lower frequency life experience.

One thing is for sure … whatever frequency I align with will determine the reality I encounter tomorrow.

Blessings, Lynne

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