Day 78

10:00 AM

"To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet..."

Step eight... Tough one, really tough. It is easy to wear a smile on your face, to embrace everyone you meet, when it is just for show. Most of us do it all the time, once we get out of the house we put on a face, and we carry it throughout the day. We mastered the art of being fake, the art of playing a role in the society, acting properly, within the norms...
Nevertheless, to genuinely wear a cheerful expression at all times, is a different story. Sometimes, when we have a good day it is possible, but all the time...? Some major practice is needed in order to achieve this state. Ego would have to be at the lowest possible level, our small self almost non-existant. Happiness of others would have to be a corner stone of our life. Only then the smile will be genuine, the smile will be real, full of positive energy that will invigorate all the creatures around us. Only when there is no small self, no ego... Until then, we will continue our role playing, we will continue perfecting our famous fake smile...

2:00 PM

"To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others..."

Number 9... I think I like this one the most. We just love to talk about others, to judge, to criticize... We feel bigger, more worthy, if we criticize someone else. Most of the time we do it when that person is not even present. When someone criticize us what is our first reaction...? Do we pause and let it sink in, do we think about it, do we try to see a lesson in the critic...? Of course not. We hit back immediately. "You didn't do it either... How about you, do you do it...?" Those are our favourite lines, full focus on the other person and their flaws. Never even glancing at ourselves, using the critic to improve, to move forward...
By criticizing others, we temporarily turn the attention on the others, and their flaws. As long as the attention is away from us we feel good, we feel worthy, we don't want our flaws out in the open. This is another subconscious reaction. Talking about others is more fun, easier and absolutely painless. Taking about us, on the other hand, brings pain and the truth... We don't want that, our ego doesn't want that, he wants to stay in control.
Focus on the good things in everybody. Focus on yourself, on your path... Breathe... Other people flaws are not really flaws, they are lessons for them as well. They are the keys to their happiness. Criticizing others only strengthens your Ego and your small self. Judging and complaining only makes you walk backwards... Taking huge steps backwards... What you need are baby steps forward...

11:00 PM

One of those "feel like s**t before the class, then end up having a great one" classes... 78th in the books...