Yesterday morning I made a vow to take everything as it came. The vow didn’t last long. I asked my son to make a new soup recipe. Then I went into the great room and turned on my new TV to watch a Colbert rerun.

As soon as I did, he raced up the stairs to get his noise-cancelling headphones to block out the sound of the TV. Not only that, he turned on the TV in the kitchen and begin to blast it.

Before you knew it, I had flown into the kitchen on wings of anger. I started telling him off and he began to explain to me that the noise was too much, that he couldn’t concentrate. We were both hurt and we were both mad.

He went upstairs and never came back down and I woke up with a heavy heart. I knew that I had blown my vow. However, the truth kicked in, as it always does. The Work says that everything just happens; there is no one there to have control. This minor spat proved my point.

It is not easy for a younger person to live with an elder and vice versa. Each has his or her own point of view and they sometimes clash.

Now don’t write and tell me how you would fix the situation. Never do that or you will be the third person in the disagreement! (A little warning and humor.)

Life is lived mechanically; the whole point of the “I am” teachings is to show you that. A violent war is raging in the Ukraine now and also in America. It is seething and simmering here now, but it will get worse. Mechanical beings are always waging war against something and I, too, am mechanical.

Wisdom is earned, not given. We must all fall flat hundreds of thousands of time before we can say, “I was wrong.” There is no end to human stupidity. And that is not a negative statement because above that stupidity is our very own “Higher I.” It will only open when we have the humility to say, “I was wrong.” Try it, you might like it.

Vicki Woodyard