Simon Says
Simon says "put your hands up"."
Simon says "put your hands down."
Stand up!
Do you remember that game? It was a game of listening to proper instruction. You were to obey any instruction that started with "Simon Says." No commentary about the instruction given was necessary. It was a simple game to see if you were able to follow proper instruction, and listening was key.
How about us? What instruction within ourselves do we listen to? Do we have a "Simon" in us that instructs us what to do in any given moment?
We certainly do. We could call the collective consciousness that we all share a part in, "Simon." How does Simon instruct each of us? Well first, Simon disguises himself as "us." Meaning, each individual in this world believes they are listening to themselves give themselves reasons and advice for everything that takes place in their life. Additionally, when we are talking to ourselves, we are not really talking to ourselves like we believe we are. It is Simon talking to Simon. Our attention is simply on that conversation wherein it makes it feel as if it is us.
But if you really look into yourself, have you noticed that the conversations that you have with what you believe to be yourself are always "two-sided?" "Maybe I should stay home today. No, I better not, there's nobody to cover for me. Yeah that's true, but I do have time off coming. No, I better head to work."
Strange you say? Yes, very strange indeed. Strange because it is Simon talking to Simon. It's very hard to believe that we've never even considered that it might be something other than ourselves that is having these conversations in our minds.
When your husband or wife says something that you don't like, immediately (in your mind) Simon says "You can't let them get away with that. Put them in their place. Let them have it." And because Simon says it and we have been the unwitting dupe of its instruction, we blindly obey.
Every single moment of our life is lived that way. We are in a perpetual game of Simon Says.
Simon says "Hate them for saying that. Let them know how horrible they are."
Simon says "They really hurt you, don't speak to them ever again."
Simon says "They did that on purpose just to irritate me. Irritate them back."
On and on it goes. Just like the game of pong. I bat, you bat. You bat, I bat. And for what? For nothing. Negative reactions to unwanted moments have been going on since the beginning of time. Literally. If they have been going on since the beginning of time, then it means that negative reactions can't be the right answer/response to the moment, because if they were, wouldn't something change? Wouldn't the need to negatively react go away?
We need a new Simon, a Simon that doesn't have us repeating old behaviors and patterns. A Simon that is incapable of harming others or ourselves. We need a Simon that we can trust impicitly. Is there such a Simon?
Indeed there is. Some call it God. Some call it Truth. Some call it Higher Consciousness. It matters not the name you give it. It is the true instructor of all things good and right. It has been with us all along but we just didn't know it. We have been too busy giving our attention to the wrong Simon, that's all.
We have to practice receiving new instruction, and this isn't something that happens overnight. It's a practice of waiting. It's a practice of watching. Watching what? Watching what the wrong Simon wants us to say and feel in any unwanted moment in our lives. In other words, don't do what you typically would do in those scenarios. Don't say "that thing." Don't agree to harbor that anger and resentment.
"Take a pass" on the old Simon and wait for the real Simon to instruct you. The real Simon can't instruct you if you are attending to the old Simon. You must choose which Simon you wish to listen to. This takes immense practice and discipline, but it is a disicpline that is rewarded ten-fold.
As I have said many times in my blog posts, children mimic everything they hear and see. By you agreeing to be instructed by true Simon in any given moment, your child receives the benefit of true, helpful instruction for their proper growth. As well, by watching you wait instead of instantly react, they will learn to be and do something new, instead of instantaneously becoming the instrument of that old reactive self.
....and the world can certainly use more of that, can't it?
Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/gustavorezende-1488336/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4267849">Gustavo Rezende</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4267849">Pixabay</a>
