The word should makes me laugh, what does it even mean?
should /SHo͝od/
Verb: Used to indicate obligation, duty, or correctness, typically when
criticizing someone's actions: "he should have been careful".
Indicating a desirable or expected state: "by now students should be
able to read".
See? It means nothing particularly apart from to argue with reality, and
what is ever the point of that unless you want to give yourself a headache or
heart attack!
If we take the above dictionary example "he should have been more
careful" we can assume that there are consequences for not taking enough
care. Well okay, but let’s keep in present time (because that’s where our power
exists) and deal with the consequences of not taking enough care instead of
drowning in the story of "shoulds".
He obviously didn't take enough care
so that's it, that's the experience, there isn't any "should of" it
simply doesn't exist. We can't change the experience we can only change the
story we tell ourselves about it, so free yourself up by choosing to only deal
with the reality. I was at a workshop with Byron Katie recently and she
reminded everyone again that if you argue with reality you lose, but only 100%
of the time!
Another exhausting example of "should” I hear over and over is
"I should really be doing X Y or Z"
The reality is that you are not actually doing X Y or Z, so either give
yourself a permission break and actually enjoy what you are doing/being in this
present moment, or just get on with X Y Z, because if you're junking up your
inner dialogue in the present with future got-to's, you're not fully present
anyway, you're not experiencing a peaceful mind.
In my marriage education training, my
teacher Tony Robbins pointed out over and over, that people say their partners
"should" this and they "should" that, in fact
they "should" all over themselves far too much! We need to
stop "shoulding" all over ourselves and our relationships.
So of course I'm not saying you "should" :-)
but I invite you to drop "should" from your vocabulary
for a while and experience how freeing it feels for you and those around you. Dawn