Do as I say, not as I do

Remember when your parents would say to you "do as I say, not as I do"?  Usually this piece of advice would pop up when your parents knew damn well they were doing something that went against everything they were trying to teach you, and they felt it necessary to cover their butts about it.

As children we knew this advice made no sense.

It was clear to us that actions spoke louder than their words because the moment we were out of our parents view we would pretend to smoke a cigarette made from a rolled up piece of paper, or we'd pretend to drink beer and get drunk (and later on maybe you stopped pretending and took on these habits for real?)

Lately, I've been noticing there seems to be an epidemic of "do as I say, not as I do".

I see too many people walking around with their "holier than thou" robes on, preaching to all who come into contact with them about how they 'should' live their lives, love one another, be kind, be compassionate, blah blah blah and then turn around and behave in a way that totally annihilates their message.

They may be fooling some people, but for those of us who have our eyes open, it's a disgusting display of hypocrasy.

I remember a few years ago, approaching a woman who was setting up a display at an event.  She was advertising her psychic skills.  I was interested in her services and what she was offering for the day and began to ask her if I could sign my name somewhere to receive a reading.  She turned to me with a scowl on her face and said "your not supposed to get a reading today, I already have all of my readings written out for the people who will be attending today".

I remember thinking "okay then" and walking back to the spot where my display was set up.  I watched this woman all day long and not one person showed up at her booth to receive her services (the ones she had already apparently written up for her potential clients).  I watched this healer/psychic sit all day long eating chocolate bars and drinking Diet Pepsi.  I watched this healer/psychic speak poorly about people who were coming and going, picking apart their choice of dress, etc.

The more I watched her, the more I couldn't for the life of me figure out how she could possibly have such amazing psychic skills when she did nothing that indicated that she loved herself enough to nurture her unique gifts. 

This encounter was at a time in my life when I was just beginning my Reiki practice, I was not confident in my intuitive abilities and had always admired people who were and who could help others through  challenges using their divine gifts.

If you are someone who wants to affect change in this world through the services that you offer, whether you are a lawyer, doctor, priest, civil servant, etc. you need to know that this 'do as I say, not as I do' attitude creates mistrust in the process and that does everything BUT attract people to your services.

I'm not saying you have to work towards sainthood for goodness sakes.  If you just asked yourself "am I the person I want to be in this world, am I the change I want to see?" every once in a while?  How could that change your life?

FYI:  I slip up ALL the time!  Just ask my hubby!  Like when I am driving my son around and I am fiddling with the radio and drinking a coffee, not paying attention to my driving....  This is one of those times where I catch myself being a poor role model and pulling the 'do as I say not as I do' stuff with him because he is learning how to drive and he is going to use the visual I am giving him as a guideline if I don't get my shit together.

Being authentic is a tough process.  You must work through your fears and blockages and beliefs about who you are in the world, tear them down and trust that your natural self is THE only way to be.

Of course we are all where we need to be right now.  We are all on our own perfect path.

I'm just wondering if maybe we can do a little bit better...