Remembering What's First

 Do you remember this scene from the 1990's movie "City Slickers"? Mitch (Billy Crystal) is suffering a mid-life crisis and decides to go out west with some buddies to find himself on a dude ranch, where they get the chance to lead a cattle drive. Mitch meets Curly, a grizzled old cowboy who, while they're on the cattle drive, shares the "secret of life" in this following exchange. Click below to watch it if you'd like.

https://youtu.be/PunAKEccqyU

Here's the exchange (if you don't want to watch it)

"The One Thing" ("City Slickers", 1991)

And that scene led me to reflect on something that my teacher Guy Finley had talked about - and that  I later gave a talk about in an online study group with other students a week ago. The key point was to REMEMBER THE RIGHT ORDER OF THINGS IN LIFE and to remember that I'm not the "Captain of my Life". There is a "Celestial Captain" (in Guy's words) that is already in charge, and that I'm meant to be in relationship with. 

At the end of his talk, Guy shared this beautiful prayer. It's posted on the wall in the main room at the Foundation. I remember reading it the first time I attended class here 15 years ago. It touched me deeply; so much so that I read it aloud as part of our wedding ceremony, also 15 years ago. 

In the talk that I recently gave, I reflected on what this prayer means to me now. I recognized it then, as I do today, as a beautiful reminder of the RIGHT ORDER - not just in my life with Deborah, or relationships with others - but with LIFE itself...with what is Divine...what is Higher...with what has GIVEN me Life.

So I wanted to share this beautiful prayer, and my reflections, as a way to strengthen in me the wish, and the intention to put into practice this "One Thing".  Here is that prayer and my reflections.

"ALWAYS YOU" (by Guy Finley)

BEFORE I DREAM, MAY I HOPE FOR YOU.

May I have the grace...the humility...to remember that this Moment has all I need in it. And thought, imagination, and worry just take me away from the gifts that are there for me.

BEFORE I LONG, MAY I REACH FOR YOU.

When I feel regret or frustrations, help me remember that YOU brought this moment to me. Help me remember the source of this Moment, and not RUN FROM IT. To stay in an uncomfortable moment - suffering it consciously - is to reach for what's Higher. 

BEFORE I JUDGE, MAY I LISTEN TO YOU.

In 63 years - and for all my life - you have never JUDGED me. Help me to stay watchful and silent when something in me wants to punish another.

BEFORE I RUSH, MAY I REST WITH YOU.

Let me consciously feel the rush of thoughts, of tension, of worry...and not be blindly pushed by them. Rather, let me be reminded to WAKE UP and remember that there is an "Eye" in all storms: a still part that is not the storm. Rest there. Let me settle into the disturbance and see something new. 

BEFORE I SHOUT, MAY I CALL ON YOU.

My actions will always speak louder than my words. Help me be an expression of patience; of kindness; of honesty...especially in those moments when everything in me is screaming that I have the right to be otherwise.

BEFORE I DOUBT, MAY I HEAR FROM YOU.

Help me take "the one step" that I'm sure I can't. We both know what those steps are and when I must take them. Remind me to listen - not to the voice that says "You can't", "Don't try", "Give up - what's the use!" - but for your voice which simply whispers, "I am Here". 

BEFORE I BRAG, MAY I POINT TO YOU.

Remind me to never settle into the comfort of my own certainty, especially about who I think I am or am not. In the end, life will always reveal the truth about myself: both that which is noble and bright, and that which is small and selfish. 

BEFORE I FEAR, MAY I TRUST IN YOU.

If I can just remember that I'm not meant to be the "Captain of my Life" - and that there is nothing about Life that is meant to be "fixed" - then what is there to ever fear? All storms pass. All that is good and beautiful is meant to be appreciated, and then let go of. That's life. 

BEFORE I ACT, MAY I REMEMBER YOU.

There is no Life outside of NOW. Help me remember this, so that in the words of the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, every moment becomes priceless. It's possible to "Breathe Legendary Breaths" and "Live Legendary Moments". But only if I'm here. Now. 

SO THAT IN THESE THINGS, IN ALL I DO, 

IT IS NOT ME THAT IS FIRST, BUT ALWAYS YOU.

I can't think of a better prayer...a better Pearl to record...and a more valuable life long Work for myself than to try to practice these things...first.