I really dislike the sound of flies buzzing around me.  Some days I open the doors and there are no screen doors, so the flies will come in, they’re drawn by Bodhi and Sattva’s food dishes and by the things in the kitchen – there’s always  something to draw them.  

It’s not a phenomenon that happens every day, but some days, and then in the evening they’re still hanging around.  The sound is irritating to me because of what I think it represents which is dirt, and germs and filth and uncleanliness of a kind that I have judgment about.

Flies help me to work with my mind to be in Peace no matter what – to be unbotherable, not because I’m inured to my own discomfort, but because the thoughts about the flies are neutral.  It’s a good practice.  It’s helping me to heal my mind.

Do I wish to be bothered?  That’s a question I ask myself.

Am I blaming someone for bothering me?  Do I want to have an excuse to attack them?  These are the questions I ask.

With the flies, I wonder, am I upset about something else and am I going to blame it on the flies?

I sit and as I’m writing this the flies stopped buzzing immediately.  It’s like they disappeared.

If I focused on them, they’d have more work to do, wouldn’t they?

A Course in Miracles tells us that everything in this world is symbolic, and that everything is neutral.  I am learning to ask what things are for.  What do they actually symbolize?

If I can be bothered, I will.  

ACIM teaches us that all conflict arises from saying we’d like the Peace of God, but then choosing something else.  The flies buzz and I choose to be at Peace.  Yesterday, I had 30 seconds of annoyance.

Today, I have Peace.  

Everything is pointing in the direction of remembering that we can choose Peace and Love and be grateful for that.

My Stop Playing Small Online Retreat starts Friday, Sept 9. If you’d like support for making a shift from playing small in your heart, living in lack and limitation, getting in your own way, to living from Love and feeling more free and focused, check out my Stop Playing Small retreat – it’s online – you’ve never had so much FUN clearing out the mental and emotional clutter!   Fear won’t stop us!  Click here for more details.