The Devil as a Dance Partner

A month or two ago, I started carrying a small notebook in my purse. When I found a quote I felt was important, I wrote it down. My hope is twofold: By writing them, I hope to internalize them more than I would by just reading them; and when I need to be reminded of the Truth, I can read some of the things I've written down. If it's in the notebook, it is true.

Many of the quotes are Buddhist.

We are what our thoughts have made us, so take care what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. -Swami Vivekananda

Do what is good and ask not what follows. -Kenko

All paths are paths to God, because, ultimately, there is no other place for the soul to go. Everything has come out of God and must go back to God. -Paramahansa Yogananda

But not all of them.

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. -Douglas Adams

All things are difficult before they are easy. -Italian proverb

and my latest addition:

I know the devil fancy me. Don't mean the motherfucker get to dance with me. -Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in the song "St. Ides"

At the moment, I'm struggling with my weight.* It is hard for me to keep a positive attitude and harder still to believe that I am not screwing everything up when really I just need to be a little more careful about what I eat and how I exercise to get back on track.

The devil is me, the part of me that says I'm never doing enough, never going to escape the patterns of disease that led to my father having bypass surgery at 43 and killed him at 57.

I acknowledge that devil, and I tell her to fuck off. She cannot dance with me regardless of how much she wants to.

I've got my own dancing to do.

*I know it's a very first world problem to have. Still, it's a problem for me.