i really want to be more accepting. of everything. of circumstances. of myself.
i've read countless books on zen. read them cover to cover. then became utterly frustrated and overly stressed out because i couldn't figure out how to apply everything covered in the book to my life immediately.
about a month ago, i bought a tiny little book called zen and the art of happiness. i loved that it was tiny. i thought it looked a little more manageable.
then i started reading it.
i got through the introductory information, and then about 30 pages in, i stopped reading. closed the book and set it down. because i thought it was asking waaaay too much of me.
it said that if i want to change the way i see the world, and the amount of happiness in my days, i need to fully accept that everything that happens is the best possible thing that could happen.
yeah. right.
so i quit.
and proceeded to have one really awful month full of crap.
but through it all, i couldn't stop thinking about that one line.
everything that happens is the best possible thing that could happen.
i found i was repeating it to myself, over and over. multiple times a day. every time i'd get upset or frustrated or angry or anything at all.
everything that happens is the best possible thing that could happen.
i don't think i got frustrated less. but i think i was frustrated for less time.
i can look back and see more spots of happy than there have been in awhile.
and then, this week became a tipping point. months worth of planning and work sitting on top of a pin. do plans stay the same? or do they change?
they change.
they change.
but.
everything that happens is the best possible thing that could happen.
so how can i be upset?
i can't. and i'm not. i'm actually
happy.
funny how that works.
(i think i may start reading that book again....)
*********
3 comments:
Everything? Hmmm... this is an interesting shift in perspective.
Sorry about that change in plans - then again, maybe not since it's leading you down the path you're supposed to take.
Mmm... that is a good line. I'll carry it with me... man how I need that.
One of the interesting parts of living in Thailand is being exposed to a Buddhist nation and seeing how Buddhist thought ingrains itself in all aspects of life, filtering through in sometimes unexpected ways. And reincarnation is a prominent force in how Buddhists act and think. I was just reading an article and came across this line: "Because the Thai soul lives over and over again, this particular life doesn’t really have a sense of urgency to it." I can't even begin to express how many lightbulbs went off when I read that, and how much more sense a lot of Thai culture makes having read that. Thai Buddhists believe we have endless time to get things right, so if you mess up a little this time around, it's not that big of a deal. (And if you get dealt a bad hand, well, that was your karma so you kind of had it coming to you. If you want better next time you should find ways to acquire more merit in this life.) Either way, you've got plenty of time to figure things out. Very contrary to a Western & Judeo-Christian mindset, where you only have one life to get things right, and if you believe in heaven and hell, wow, are the consequences stark in difference.
I don't know if that shines any new light on the notion that everything that happens is the best possible thing that could have happened, but I feel there's some similarity in how it might help a person cut themselves - and life - some slack.
In any case, I'm glad you found a mantra that helps with the zen.
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