Right and Wrong

Have you every noticed that lots of our actions take on moral implications where there aren't any.  Take for example right now.  If you look at the time stamp on this post -- it is not when I usually post.  It's just before 1 am on Monday morning.  I woke up a while ago and laid there thinking.  Usually, that is enough to go back to sleep but it hasn't been tonight.

While I was laying there, I thought about what I could blog about in the morning -- then I started thinking about the chocolate chocolate chip cookies in the freezer.  Soon I was debating the merits of getting up and writing a post (and eating some of the cookies).  The most interesting part of the whole debate, however, came from hearing myself say "I shouldn't get up and post right now -- I should go back to bed -- what kind of a person gets up in the middle of the night to work?" and "Holy Cow!  I can't wake up in the middle of the night and eat cookies -- what's wrong with me (said in a voice of shock and horror)!!"

Neither posting in the middle of the night nor eating cookies in bed is a moral decision.  Should and shouldn't aren't really part of the discussion (especially if I am trying to practice non-judgment).  I am not less (or more)  of a person for fighting off the urge to eat or plowing my way back to sleep (if such a thing could be done) than I would be to turn on the computer and grab the frozen box.

In the last several weeks, I have been surprised by how many clients (both eating and exercise) are driven by the seeming morality of their habit choices.  Like going to 4 aerobics classes a week and not eating anything with refined sugar gets them four steps closer to Holy??! -- I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that isn't how it works.

So give it some thought.  Start to notice how many choices you are making  for "should" or "shouldn't" reasons -- and how many are done because that is how you are choosing to care for yourself at that particular time.  --The idea that Gluttony is a Cardinal sin aside, eating isn't the final grade on the kind of people we are.