Finding Calm in the Circus Chaos

"Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people' s nonsense repeat these words: Not my circus. Not my monkeys."

Every day we engage in hundreds of tiny interactions that can positively or negatively affect our day if we allow it too.  I regularly forget that I have a choice with every situation and conversation how I react to it. I can either be pulled into the chaos, or I can stay on my side of line rooted without attachment to the fluctuating moment.  I can allow my emotions to take over and act from a place of anger and ego, or I can breathe and move from a place of higher awareness, and with more compassion.

Not my circus. Not my monkeys. The idiom made me laugh but I found so much truth in it. How many times have I let myself been pulled into another person's drama and then blamed them for my negative shift in attitude? So I hang this quote up and repeat as my new mantra. Not my circus. Not my monkeys. Not my business.. not my place... not my desire to be pulled from harmony and into chaos.

So how can we remain in the presence of peace? Share your peace and bless others with it. When you see that people around you are frustrated or upset, say a silent prayer of peace for them. Take a few minutes in the morning to close your eyes and lift up your gratitude. Ask that the abundance be shared with those you know are feeling deficient. Don't forget that we all have the human experience in common and that empathy and grace need to be provided on the daily for healing and reconciliation.

lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu "May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life contribute in some way, to that happiness and to that freedom for all."