Recently a friend and I were talking (OK, gossiping) about another friend who had just moved from a beautifully done two million dollar house on a great street, to a spectacular four million dollar house on a coveted street. We were talking about her, because she is telling everyone in town that, yeah her house is great and all, but she absolutely loves the house across from hers, because it's on the water. We were talking about how ridiculous it is to so blatantly always want the next step up.
It's very easy to look at someone who has so much and yet still wants more and make fun of her a little bit. It's easy to feel a little superior. It's easy to say, when is enough enough, when faced with such obvious excess.
But.....aren't I doing the same thing? My house is small, but it's warm or cool depending on the season, and there is always plenty to eat and drink in it. It should be enough. So why should I look at someone else's house, or car, or hips and want what they have instead of what I do. And if I do that, shouldn't I be made fun of too? (The answer is yes, and please feel free to call me on it when you hear it.)
In yoga the phrase is "stay on your own mat" meaning, think about where you are in your practice, not about what your neighbor is doing. Live in your body. Be in your moment.
When the girl-thing was very little, something she did made me say to her, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." She looked at me, very pensively for a moment and replied, "but Mommy, people who live in stone houses shouldn't throw glass either."
So my thought for the day is, live in your own house and everyone please stop throwing things.
Namaste.
