This weekend, casually watching a movie with my son, a classic cartoon trope made its appearance. A main character finds himself faced with a big decision when out pops an angel and devil on each shoulder, both pleading their case as to why they should be listened to. In this case, the rascally mouse is living the high life inside a ritzy hotel, while the cat enviously peers through the window whilst outside in the pouring rain. The devil whispering, “Do you see how unfair this is? That should be you living lavishly! You deserve that more than that mouse; YOU’RE A CAT!!”. This is countered by the angel delivering encouragement, “I believe in you! He’s just an innocent mouse living his life. You can have this too, there is enough to go around. I trust in you to make the right choice”. These situations normally end up with our main protagonist choosing the trident wielding Beelzebub’s poor advice and winding up in chaos.
As innocent (and enjoyable) as this movie is, I couldn’t help but find myself wondering the truth in this. Isn’t this how things can go for us daily? I found that the little devil’s ‘advice’ tends to sound a lot like the ego living in my mind. Our egos tend to want to make things seemingly fair, to put someone else down so we can hold ourselves higher, to convince us we aren’t worthy. Any time we allow our thoughts to stray from love we are giving into something that is not in our, or the world’s, best interests. It is amazing how far we can allow ourselves to stray into thinking we are not good enough, that we can’t have something because someone else does, or that the world is out to get us. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Start noticing your thoughts as much as you can. Do you hear both the angel and devil voices? Is one louder than the other? If someone cuts you off in traffic, do you think “Eff that guy! Does he really think he’s better than me!?”. Do you ponder “Oh wow that person may be in a hurry for something important, and just didn’t notice me?”. Perhaps you think a combination, you get angry at first, but then realize it isn’t about you. Whatever you think, just start to notice which direction your thoughts tend to flow. Towards love or towards anger, fear and destruction? The reality is, in every moment, you get to decide who you listen to.
Which one will it be today?
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