Despite my geographical love of mankind, I would be attacked by local fears. —Grace Paley—
We may have the highest principles, be generous, trusting, and public-spirited, and still find ourselves assailed at times by doubts and fears. The local fears don’t mean that we’ve betrayed our “geographical principles; only that, this time, we’re afraid.The wonderful thing about being human is that we can choose how we act at any given moment. If we find ourselves behaving in a way we don’t like, we can choose to change; either to change our behavior or— if that doesn’t seem possible—to change the way we look at it. It’s wisely said: “You can do something for
twelve hours that you could never think of doing your whole life long.” Its a waste of time and effort to disapprove of ourselves. If we won’t change our behavior, let’s change our standards. Many of us have impossibly high expectations for ourselves, and
when we don’t measure up, we feel guilty. Guilt is unproductive. When we keep everything in the moment—the “geographical” as well as the “local—we can accept ourselves as we are. We are as good, right now, as we can be. Scaling down my expectations closer to what I’m capable of will aid my spiritual growth.