patience, kindness, compassion, and love

you've been invited to the dance

of this existence and you are already

here on the dance floor, though for some

they just stand along the walls, trying to

not make eye-contact

we have all been born into this existence

in unique circumstances and unique conditions

different cultures, different families, and different

experiences, there is no comparison between

any of us that could ever be fair

we don't know somebody's entire life story,

what has happened to them, or what will happen

to them, and don't even fully know our own life story,

what has happened to us, and maybe only occasionally

in conscious awareness, what will happen

the rich man who seemed to have everything

the folly of my comparison, he had the ferrari and

a beautiful family and a beautiful money and such

great external success, i envied his life until i learned

he also had cancer

and then i no longer envied his life

there is a momentum to the conditioning

that we have been through, such that, to shift

that conditioning takes time

we must have patience with ourselves

as we miss the mark and stumble again

in ways which have been so deeply ingrained

we must remember to have patience with ourselves

as we practice new patterns of behavior and

patterns of thought

patience,

kindness,

compassion,

and love