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Always Check Your Assumptions


Jumping to conclusions.

I came upstairs to my hotel room after having lunch with our son, Trey, today and my key did not open my room’s door. My key had apparently become demagnetized while I was at lunch.

The housekeeper was in our son’s adjoining room cleaning and had his door open, so I slipped in. As I went over to my side, I noticed that the remainder of my room service breakfast had been taken away. It was to have been my mid-afternoon snack: some fruit and a carton of yogurt.

I went back into his room and started exclaiming about the food having been taken away. She said, “I thought you were checked out already!” I replied, “No, we don’t check out until Thursday and Friday.” It was then that I noticed that ALL my stuff had been removed, and Trey’s luggage and his backpack, as well. My heart began to race.

“Where’s all my stuff?!” I really began to get excited now. “ALL my stuff! My clothes, my luggage, my computer─all of it, where did it go?”

My palms began to sweat and my head began to pound.

She became really flustered, literally fleeing the scene saying, “Wait, wait, wait, I’ll be right back.”

It was then that I began to think, “Okay, maybe we have been robbed. But I have my extra cash and my passport locked up in the safe.” It was probably there still and at least I would have that, I reasoned.

It was after about 30 seconds of this kind of frantic thinking that I realized only yesterday I had tried to get into room 2109, but my room is 2105, just the next set of doors down. At that very instant I saw an American Airlines pair of pilot wings on the floor, the kind they hand out to kids, right? And I knew that I had done that again. Wow. Both the housekeeper and I had sure gotten a rush of adrenaline from my failure to check my assumptions and get straight with reality.

Reflecting back on this experience, I can think of many other times I have jumped to conclusions about something which led to a meltdown or a flaming of one sort or another. I bet you can, too. These are not pleasant memories, I can assure you. I know I’m not the only one who has ever done that or will do it again.

And this is why I meditate every day. Spending that time on the mat, simply resting in God’s lap, allows me to re-attune to reality. It helps me experience the depths of reality with every breath in and every breath out, releasing the memories of the past and the expectations of the future. I can let go of all the assumptions which can cause me to act in ways which are irrelevant by just allowing myself to bask in the glory of the present moment as it is experienced.

The assumptions about the meaning of words gone by and the interpretations of the meanings of those words…released. The assumptions about the probabilities of actions taken and the meanings of those actions…released. The pain from slights imagined or real…released. The worry of events not yet unfolded…released.

I embrace instead an experience of a deep, deep peace─a peace which truly “passes all understanding,” as written in the Bible in the book of Philippians.

There is a passage in the Bible also about basking in the light (Psalm 97:1). Being still is how I check my assumptions and re-attune to reality and bask in the light of God. It brings a clarity to life, doesn’t it?

“Be still and know I am God.” Psalm 46:10

How does being still help you check your assumptions and get straight with reality?

Read more posts by Beth Misner, a contributing blogger for JenningsWire.