Somebody wise once said that people are a bit like horses wearing nose bags. The kind that supply a large amount of food for them to nibble on. When a horse looks into its own nose bag, it can only see what's at the top of it. When it looks at neighbouring horses, it may well imagine that they are much better off. Our nose bags are our advantages. We tend only to notice the most attainable, whereas we can much more easily see other people's blessings. Today brings a chance to become more aware of your own.
You have been feeling, for some while, as if you are getting too much of the wrong kind of attention. You have been receiving criticism for things that can hardly be your fault. And even the praise that has been bestowed upon you has somehow had an insidious or inappropriate quality to it. Now this all becomes less of a problem. Over the next few days, much that has been uneven will start to level itself out. And the unfair will become more reasonable.
Who do you think you are? Okay. Now hold that thought a moment. Let's have another question. Who does someone else think you are? Now, let's have a third question. Who do they think they are to think that they know who you are? And who do you think you are, to think you know who they must think they are, to think that they know who you are? These may not be the only questions in your life now, that can't be easily answered. But they are surely amongst the most annoying. Perhaps it is time to stop asking them.
There is a big difference between prolonged, enduring, unnecessary discomfort and experiencing temporary but effectively essential stress. It may prove all but impossible to avoid a source of tension today. But that's hardly a problem as long as it forms a valid part of a positive process. So all we really have to ask is, 'Are you doing the wrong thing or wasting your time? You know the answer to that! Of course you aren't. So what's happening can only be deeply beneficial, even if it isn't entirely enjoyable.