Time and Motion

        "Get rid of the self and act from the self!"  -Zen saying 

          What is consideration?  Who is it for and when do we use it?  On a daily basis people make statements in reference to people being inconsiderate.   But do we really know what it means or is it just a word we like to throw around alot?  (There seems to be so many of those words.)   Being considerate means to give something, or someone, careful thought; it is meditation, or  deliberation.   It is something (or someone) that is, or is to be, kept in mind when making a decision, evaluateing facts, etc.   It is thoughtful and/or sympathetic regard.  It is respect and thoughtfullness.   
          Deliberation is actually an act of slow, careful, thoughtful communication, either verbal or nonverbal.   It is connected to the perception of time and motion.   Motion is the process of changing place or position.   It is also to make a meaningful gesture, like with the hand.  Or, my personal favorite, to go through the motions, to do something halfheartedly, as a formality or facade.   Time is the system of sequential relations that any event has to any other, as in past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.  Finally, meditation, which is a continued or extended thought, reflection or contemplation.
              Here's the monkey on the brain however.  Perception.  Once again perception varies from person to person.  Someone may percieve themselves as being considerate, when infact they are not.   How can someone know they are to be considerate in a certain area, or under certain circumstances, if they don't understand what you would like or need?   The perception of consideration must be explained and kept constant.  (Time and motion.)
          Being considerate is a learned skill.  It is not something we are born knowing how to do.  Traits that we all have at birth cover our basic instincts and feelings.   Happy, sad, angry, hungry, needing affection, etc.  Consideration requires acts and words attached to it, so it is an advanced skill that we must learn.  (Time and motion)
          How do you learn to be considerate?   When we are young we, of course, learn it from our role models.  Watching our parents being loving and considerate towards each other.   Seeing them put someone elses needs before their own, being polite to a stranger or a rude person, even when that person doesn't deserve politeness.   Remembering things, that they percieve as being insignificant, because it means alot to a loved one.  (Time and motion.)
           Having consideration is about respect, not only for others, but ultimately for ourselves.   How can you really like yourself if you don't treat others with repect?   And how can others respect you if you don't treat them, and yourself, with out consideration?  Respect is esteem for, or a sense of the worth, or excellence as, or of, a person.  It is a personal quality, ability, or something that is considered a manifestation of something personal in a person.  It is earned through deeds and words.  It is honor.   Honor is honesty, fairness, and/ or integrity in one's beliefs and actions.   It is a gift that we give to ourselves.  It is our personal core, our morals, values, and belief system.   These are our core being.   For instance, our spiritual beliefs may change, but we will always choose to be spiritual.  ( Time and motion.) 
          As we develop through our lifetime and expand our universe, and the people in it, we learn the skill of observation.   What once was hidden from us suddenly is obvious.   Our perceptions change.   We learn that it is wrong to tease someone just because they are not exactly like us.   We now are able to observe that it causes pain and causeing pain is not honorable.  We notice that a dishonorable act reflects negatively on us.   So we become more considerate and learn to with hold judgement for the persons who are causing the pain instead of the ones recieving it.  
          The first phase is learning to speak, useing words correctly and learning that words carry some power.   We are thirsty, we ask for a drink, we get it, that is power.  The second phase is learning to observe.  Watching the effects that our words and behavior has on our environment and the people in it.   The last part is listening.  (Time and motion.) 
          You would thing listening comes earlier, but not really, as all parents know.   Listening is attached to critical thinking and problem solving.  It is advanced thinking and usually comes in adolescence; but as any adult will probably tell you, it is a skill that we all strive to perfect for as long as we live.  Teens are focused on fairness.   They want to know that what someone tells them is the truth.   It doesn't matter much that they are still learning this concept themselves and are pretty hypocritical about it.  What matters is that the role models that they look up to are telling the truth and not being hypocrits.   They learn that parents are no longer perfect.   The consideration that they look for and expect is that parents admit to this.    (Time and motion.)
          So now we're adults and we have learned to speak, observe and listen.  (We have learned to move with in our time)   AND YET!!  There will be a lack of consideration.  Why?   Time and motion.  (Moving with in our time.)           While we are awful good at observing someone elses action and quick to point out how they are wrong, more often then right.   We are slow, and sometimes completely oblivious, to our own.   We go through the motions half heartedly with out consideration for the other persons time and feelings.   We forget to observe, we didn't completely listen and perhaps didn't speak truthfully.   The person on the recieving end of this becomes...hurt.
          The pith of the matter.   Consideration takes time, it entails someone meditateing on something, or someone, else.   It requires us to stop, think outside our self and act from the self.  It is an act of kindness towards another living thing and in this time who wants to give time for that?  "OUR" time is valuable.  
          Time and motion.  At the end of your time on earth will you be able to feel that you gave honorable passage with consideration?  Something to meditate on.