Over 1000's of years the Bones of the Earth take on shapes carved
by wind, sand and rain ... So to .... do we take our shape,
from the elements in our lives,
The largest force of which

Is Ourselves

The Rock has no say in how its molded by the stresses placed on it,
it merely responds, to each demand

We on the other hand , Can take a hand in our eventual shape ,
our Destiny if you will , it is in our hands
to make it fly or not . And the hardest thing to learn
is this simple truth, that we Are in control of it
As we can control how we react to everything

To often, we feel like we are the rock , being whittled down
by the winds of ill fortune, the sand in our eyes of pain
and rain of tears that we shed when we are hurt

Are we Helpless before the onslaught of demands on us ?

I don't think so

Ok.. why not you say ..? What the heck can I do about it ?

Ever Hear of Asking for Help ?

Sounds like a simple enough thing doesn't it ?

Yet , all too often its the last thing we humans do
We will suffer for years .. in pain .. over all manner of things
rather than say even once, HELP ! I don't understand, Im confused,
I don't know what to do, I ......... ? Ya get the picture :)

Ok ,true enough but what's this got to do with walking the Path you ask ?
It's about sharing of the self and your burdens, with each other,
with The Great Mother and All Father,
to reach out once in a while and say
" I am human , and I need "

Not so hard to say is it ?

Ok , when's the last time you did it ?

Had to stop and think about that one didn't you ? :)

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger , so do we all

Once we reach the age of adult , the concept of asking for help
sorta goes out the window,and the more educated we are and the older we get
the less likely we are to ask for help
when the feces hits the fan ,or just because we need,
even without a crisis to hand that we are dealing with

Now, why is this not a good thing for a walker of the Way ?

Because

This over-burdening of the self, makes one unfit to be of much use to anyone else
for any reason. And that includes the Mothers Work
and the tasks she sets us

Why ?

How can you help others, if you are spending all your time playing catch up in your own life,
because you are trying to do it the hard way ?

We are supposed to be an independent lot
and stand on our own two feet most assuredly , however

This does not mean make like your Wonder Woman
or Superman ... Up Up and Away .. Yeah right !
Till somebody steps on your cape :)

As a teacher this ones real hard,
as students have a nasty habit of assuming that because your the teacher,
that your some kind of paragon who never makes mistakes,
and never, ever, Needs help.

You try to live up to that, HA ! At least until you get smart
and realize its an impossibility .. and simply turn that
unrealistic expectation of theirs, into a another lesson,
For Them :)

Suffered the short end of that one , even before I became a teacher
of the Path, just by being the person everybody came to,
it never occurred to them, that once in a while
.. I might need them ..

So what's to do , to keep you in top form and not unduly burdened
by the slings and arrows of mis-fortune and have some control over your own fate
and a free hand to Work ?

All of the below work for both Your day to day life ,
and the Great Work as laid out for you ... So

By the Numbers

1: Plan

Map things out, nothing will  mess up your life worse
than being caught with your britches down at a critical moment
Sit down and figure out what's going on in your life
and all the possible variations and issues that might come up

Once you have such a list , go over it and ask the
" what would I do if " ? and if there is no ready answer, then ask
others,find out what they did ,there is no need to re-invent
the wheel all the time, use the benefit
of their experience

2: Flexibility

Even the best laid plans of mice and men to quote the Bard
can go awry , have backups.. B C D .. etc. etc.. to however
many you think you might need, then add one more
just for good measure. Including asking a person to be backup
To take over , if your not able to do it

Life is not predictable you have to be ready to bend
with circumstances when it suddenly changes directions on you

If not , your gonna be standing there , trying to figure it out ,
when the train coming down the track ,
the one you didn't count on .... runs over your foot !

3: Education

In order to make the above plans A ----- Z you need to know what to do,
if you have situation X and you don't know enough , time to ask for help
to learn more ,from others who know , Network , join a news group,
whatever it takes, but get the information
that you need to make intelligent informed choices

4: Relax

Don't try to do the impossible, which is, Do everything at once !
Sounds simple right..? hehehehe yeah it does :)

But too often we don't do this, our mind makes the irrational demand
that we should be able to do everything at the same time ,
and we try to do just that .. BUZZ ..

NOT

This is a ticket to therapy, the hospital or the Morgue

5: Delegate

The most successful people in any endeavor be it the Path or Wall street
know this simple fact, delegate things, give over some of the task to others,
We try to do too much

Do we not trust enough that the other will do it right ?

Are we so poor spirited that we need all the "Glory" of accomplishment
to be by our own hand ..?

The person to whom you delegate should be someone who
preferably, CAN do it better than you, But even if not,
the goal is to get the job done, not whose name is on it

6: Know when to say NO

I can do that ya say ..?.. :) Yeah sure ya can, Only one in 10 can do this
without feeling guilty about it or making excuses .

Know when to say no.. when to say enough !
When to tell those who come to you with demands that sorry .. Not today ...

This is not selfishness, it is the core of giving , knowing when
to wait for the Well that is you, to fill up again ..
this is helping yourself and them

7: Give a gift , to you once in a while

Very often we who walk the Path are very giving people
to everybody else , but tend to fall a little flat when it comes to ourselves
( took me years to learn this one and I still screw it up
from time to time ... ! )

This is not healthy. What ? Is everyone in the World
deserving of your Love and care , except you ? :)

The Well Dippers of the World must remember
that its allowed to Dip from the Well of Caring for others forever ..
but the Dipper must remember to drink too
Or fall flat on their face from thirst !

8: Practice Reality

Too often what robs us of our own control are things over which
we Have little or no control, What I mean is this

Can you "do" anything about the situation that's driving you bats ?
Other than how YOU respond to it ?
.. No ..
We have no control over the actions of another
Nor do we have any say over the actions of life

The Prayer of Serenity says, Help me to change what I can,
and accept what I cannot, and be wise enough to know which is which :)
Not sure which is which ?

Ask for help , talk to others an see what they think

9: Have Goals

Have a Goal to reach towards , everyday must have meaning
or why bother getting outa bed

Nothing is more a waste of time than to spend days, weeks, years doing nothing ,
for want of any kind of Goal you want to reach. It does not need to be something grandiose.
But there needs to be something, or we flounder,
wandering about aimless and wasting the days of our lives

Can you control nothing ? You can't right ?.. So without Goals
to reach for there IS nothing for you to control,
no action to take .. Right or Wrong do something ..

Not sure how to set a Goal ? .. A REAL one .. Ask .. get help

The information is out there for the taking..
all ya have to do is reach out your hand

10: Don't waste your time over Trivia

All too often we hustle and bustle our way through our day
to end up tired and stressed at Days end , and look back to realize
we didn't really DO anything ! Yeah we went to work,
we did the housework, we did all the needful things
that make up the maintain aspect of our lives ..

But needful as those things are , they don't matter much
in the Long run of improvements we want to make,
of things that Do matter

They are things we do to maintain where we are,
period and anything that does that will do

Including having someone else do it

But since we Do spend so much time at it, we make it important, Why ?
So that we can justify the sheer amount of time and energy
we have used on it is why

Otherwise , we would resent it having to do it at all .
So we make it more than it is and give more to it
and the more we do this , the less we have time or energy
to do things that matter

Get off the Merry go round .. It's a job .. a means to make money ,
If you happen to like it and it does good for the world to boot great ,
but it's still just a job .......

.. IT IS NOT YOUR LIFE ..

Neither is the housework , or any one of a 1000 other tasks
that take up ones time and energy

Trivia, the lot of it
and not worthy of commanding your life

So .. to sum up

Plan it out
AND
Leave some room in there for the things that pop up

Educate yourself to take off the stress of uncertainty
.. Take time off once in a while ...
AND
Delegate things out ,many hands make for light work

Say No once in a while
and don't even think about feeling guilty about it
AND
Give some of that Love and care to you
Look at life for what it is, not what you would have it be

Keep clear Goals in mind and in sight
AND
Don't let your life be trickled away by meaningless
trivial things

If you can do all that , THEN you will have some control
over your life and your destiny

And be in shape to Walk the Path, of the Wise :)

May your hands on the reins of your life be gentle
as YOU are the horse you ride

Blessings to One and All

Companion Work
Picking the Right Path on the Way of the Mother