Knowing what to do and putting it into practice are two very distinct concepts.  For me, implementation remains a continuous and, sometimes, frustrating process.

Case in point:  I continue to grow through my neighbors.  In this post, we won’t even get into the loud music, the roaring cars making screeching circles (“donuts”) in the street, the drugs, abandoned and stripped cars, etc.  Today we will deal with trash only.  I have tried to speak to my neighbors and their guests nicely and explain why I don’t like them to throw trash in front of my house.

I’ve told them: “You’re not doing this only to me.  You’re not respecting yourselves.  This is your neighborhood, your community.  Is this how you want to live?”  It’s like my outer calm infuriates them.  They curse and discard more trash, most likely mirroring my inner turmoil.

I started sweeping the trash in my yard out into the street because I’m so tired of daily picking up other people’s liquor bottles, condoms, cigarette butts, fast food boxes, and other rubbish.  It would take me less than 5 minutes to pick up the trash and then it would be gone.  But the way I do it, it lasts infinitely.  Because I sweep it out into the street, I still see it every day in front of my house.  When it rains, it becomes soggy and glued to the asphalt.  Other people see the trash.  I guess they feel that it’s a dump, so they also throw their debris there.  I then have more trash.  Wet gooey trash.  The situation worsens.

So I started thinking: “what is going on? Why must I live like this?”

My first mind, the part that gets irritated, says: “These people are wrong!  I have a right to be angry and respond accordingly!  Why can’t I have decent and considerate neighbors?  Why do I have to live in a crappy neighborhood?”

The observing and objective part of my mind says: “And??  Pick up the trash and move on instead of letting it linger.  Every time you see the trash you get angrier and angrier.  There are other things to get angry about.  This is not one of them.  Stop thinking about what bothers you.  Think about what you want and how you would like things to be.”

Knowing this is correct, I focus on the type of neighbors I would like, the type of neighborhood in which I would like to live.  I visualize this while I pick up the trash.  Anger is not productive at all.  I can better fill my mind, my soul, my aura, my energetic space with love and positivity.  Afterwards, I feel much better, much more relaxed and at peace.

These little things that are so very minor in a global sense contribute to a mental exhaustion that is not based upon any type of intensely stressful situation.  I am not in the midst of a war.  I am not being abused.  I am not homeless, forsaken, unloved, mentally or physically ill.  Yet, because of trash that I can easily pick up, I allow my joy to hide behind judgment, frustration, and anger.

So I made a decision to lovingly and mindfully gather the garbage.  I first send love and compassion to myself.  To me, I say, “It’s ok.  I understand.”  I give myself an energetic hug.  Then I send love to the people who fill my yard with litter.  Most of the time, because I don’t yet feel it, I just repeatedly say “I send you love” until my mind gets distracted by something upon which I really need to concentrate, like getting my Ancient Seeker post completed or cooking a healthy meal or exercising or, really, focusing on that something within me that causes me to react so negatively.

How can I grow to love people who appear to have no respect for themselves, no respect for other people, and no respect for other people’s property or the environment?  Who knows how they’ve been raised, what kind of homes they grew up in?  I must practice sending love to my neighbor across the street who attracts these people and who himself has a house full of junk, trash, and broken up cars.  Just send love.  Love love love!  If I can’t send it, think it, state it.

There are so many positive things that I could be doing instead of getting upset.  Why put energy into what I have no control over?  Persons and circumstances only impact me because I let them.  I am only affected when and if I let myself be.  And that’s something that I can control.

That’s what I need to remember and practice.  I can control how I feel and how I react to any given situation.  I need to focus my mind on what I want and keep my eye on the prize, not the trash.