Who’s a Good Boy Then?
Sometimes It’s All You Want to Hear
Dear friend,
That you’re doing a decent job.
Sometimes it’s all you want to hear.
The kids who’ll be leaving our school the same year as me, I have a particularly soft spot for. One of them, her family moved out of the area and as a parting gift she inaugurated the ‘Decent’ teacher awards.
She was a very bright funny kid and protested against the over use of the word excellence. When she left she presented me with a glass trophy with the words “Decent Teacher” etched on it.
It’ll be coming home with me when I leave those gates for the last time.
Chiara and me have been laughing a lot lately. Mostly at ourselves. Or along with ourselves. This morning, in a sleepy state I found myself talking to her as if she was Zara the dog we look after.
“Bless you, you’re a good girl aren’t you gorgeous.”
That could be taken the wrong way! But then who doesn’t want to be told that they’re good?
I occasionally watch Russel Brand’s videos and something he said stuck in my mind. He was sharing how, after a successful live show, where he’s entertained thousands of people, received rapturous applause and adoration, later at home when it’s all gone quiet he just wants to be held by his wife and told that he’s a good boy.
To be still in the silence within.
Knowing you are loved.
You can get that from meditation.
It follows you around everywhere you go.
Alive inside of you. It is you.
Life is good.
One vowel less and were into theology.
The practice of forgiveness is central to every spiritual path for a simple yet powerful reason.
When you forgive other people for being human, for making mistakes, for having flaws in their personality, in time you’ll turn that forgiveness on yourself.
Good people can be terribly hard on themselves.
But life can be tough here. Even if you are born into the arms of a loving family, they’ll relate to you in ways that leave you feeling like there’s something wrong about you. They’ll make mistakes raising you. How could they not? Our needs are so complex.
Never mind if you were born into a dysfunctional environment.
And anyway the wider culture is bleached of wisdom.
Be kind.
Forgive.
Communicate your boundaries.
Notice when you become punitive. In your mind, words or deeds.
Just noticing changes things.
We can live peacefully in this world.
It’s up to us.
There is no-one else can do it for us.
Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey