The life race.

A nice story I heard about the life race. The race where the finish line always seem to drag further away from us. The race we keep on running.
Society today is in a race, because we are unable to distinguish the differences between our needs and our wants. Most of us have our needs, and having the capability to be satisfied and content with what we have, we run a never ending race to fulfill our wants.  It is NEEDS vs WANTS.

There used to be a woodcutter in a forest, he usually cuts some wood in the morning and spends the remaining of day relaxing with his family. One day a person walked up-to him and said,
Person: why don't you cut more wood and buy a lorry
Woodcutter: and then ?
Person: Then you can sell more wood and make more money
Woodcutter: and then ?
Person: then you can buy more lorries and sell more wood making more money
Woodcutter: and then?
Person: Then you can build a nice big house and put your own employees to work
Woodcutter: and then ?
Person: then you will have more time to relax and spent time with your family
Woodcutter: I worked in the morning, now I am relaxing and have time to spend with my family.

This is a good story for the needs vs wants scenario. Usually we compare ourselves with others and that is when wants arise. A man walking on bare foot will be happy the way he is until he sees someone riding a bicycle and then he feels he is suffering. Suffering is always a personal judgement, one we make up relating to others.

- May all beings be well and happy. 

The 4 supporters when patience alone cannot win the battle.

This contains a good piece of advice I heard from Doramadalawa. Usually being patient alone is not enough, we can do a few things in order to avoid going over things that usually drags us down.

1.Think the opposite:
If you are angry at someone for example, every time you feel that way you can actually spread good will to that person, be different and send that message to the mind. Let go and be at peace. After all you are the one that has the anger, it is eating you up inside, so sending a much better signal to the mind and being at easy is a path that should be taken.

2. Do not revisit:
We all do it, revisit the bad memories and think about it over and over again. Hoping for a explanation,  looking for alternatives that could have happened etc. If someone scolds you for example, or says something harsh that made you get upset. what needs to be realized here is that every-time you go over it in your head you are trying to re-live that moment. Since that is not what you want, stop revisiting it.


3. Go back and think about the start:
If you really want to think about it, do it just once. Go to the beginning and think, why was that said to me? was the person who said it in a bad mood ? or is the situation as bad as I think it is to be frustrated over it? usually it is not and it is us ourselves that have made a big fuss.

4. Go and think the possible ending:
Then we can go and think of the possible ending. What happened has happened, we can now try to fix it and mainly get a hold of it and be at peace with it just the way it happened. It is our own attachment that puts us in these situations, so the way you related to situations decides how you feel about it later on and nothing else.

- May all beings be well and happy.