Our experience, our lives, our journeys are just that, OURS. We all deal with a unique set of circumstances. Whether your pain comes from a past hurt as a child, a current battle with a disease, a loved one’s struggles, no matter what it is, it is real, unique and your own. The same holds true for our successes, joy and happiness. We all experience different types and derive pleasure from one of a kind circumstances. Wouldn’t life be mundane if that were not the case? Still we often can’t help but worry about how we stack up.

From a young age we are taught about comparisons. We start out free of judgment and ego, but invariably and rather quickly we are conditioned to measure ourselves against and compare ourselves to others. Take for example the height marks on the door jam in the kitchen. Multi-colored dated hash marks with our name on one and our brothers’ and sisters’ on the others. A small, but to me poignant, example.

As adults we spend time measuring ourselves against peers at work, to our neighbors, our relatives, our friends, and even our foes. Then we exacerbate the wasted time by judging both ourselves and the others who are unknowingly participating in our little obsession.

To me it is akin to what I have always thought about swindlers and hustlers. If they would simply put all that ingenious effort into an honest pursuit they would likely be extremely successful. If we’d put all our tape measures aside and focus on the next best right thing for ourselves we will experience a brighter, less stressful existence. After all, you can’t compare an apple and an orange and you sure has hell can’t turn one into the other, so why waste time trying?

Who cares whose pain is worse and happiness greater? Isn’t the point that we all experience hurt and joy? Do the degrees really matter? The types separate true from false?

Today as we deal with our own struggles and celebrate our own successes, let us remember those we come across are living their own set of circumstances. Whether they are smiling or scowling, singing or screaming, we are not privy to the cause so let us accept and be kind instead of judge and compare. Compassion and a desire for the success and happiness of all around us breeds the same for us and more of it for the whole of us. In the big picture we are all connected and that is heavy, good, great stuff.

Have the best unique day you can and remember whether the moment is up or down there is a new beginning every second.

Peace Out
William