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. 

Change the World ?

People people people... always trying to change the world they live in. This is not about the type of change done by great people like Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Theresa. This is about people trying control and expect from others. A simple notion, it is so simple that it is hard to understand. Most people try to change the world they are in by trying to control others and expecting from others. But this never works, you can live better when you do not try to control people and accept them for who they are. Also when you do not expect anything from others, you are never really disappointed (sounds like something you wanted for a long time ? ;) ).

These simple points are best put forward with some sort of narration to visualise. Lets say that what a man wants is to - "Walk comfortable anywhere he walks on earth" (not be disappointed), he can do one of two things, 1) Cover the entire Earth with leather so he will always be walking on leather (control and expect from people)... 2) He could easily wear two leather shoes, so anywhere he walks he will feel comfortable (adjust your perception - do not expect from others or try to control them). So decide if you want to cover the entire Earth with leather, which cannot be achieved in a lifetime or if you will wear some comfortable shoes when you walk :D

- May all beings be well and happy. 

The Path

All the posts boils down to this, that one should not try to control a situation but to accept things as they are and adapt. All negative emotions can be said to be because one tries to control and when that does not go well... we have all been there so decide for yourself.

Accepting all the good and bad as they are and not complaining and adapting is that way to go. This can be illustrated from a story I once heard. People like stories no matter how old they are :P so here goes...

Story:

Once upon a time :D .. there was a boy living in China with his dad. They had only one horse and one day they noticed that it had run away the previous night. People were expressing their thoughts saying what a terrible situation it was and what a loss it is to the family. The dad however remained composed and accepted the situation.

A few days later the horse was back and to their surprise it had brought along with it another horse from the wild. People were expressing their thoughts this time as well, saying what a good turn of events it has been and how lucky the family is since they now have two horses.

Again the dad remained composed and accepted the situation.

Few days later the son who was now training the wild horse fell off the horse and broke his leg. People again expressed their thoughts saying how unfortunate the situation was and about the bad patch the family was going through. The dad still remained composed and accepted the situation, neither being sad nor happy.

This was during a time when the government was recruiting soldiers and the young males were forced to join the army. However since the son had a leg injury he was of no use as a soldier and was not taken away.

The moral of the story is that there is no use trying to control the situations you are faced with. Being happy when the situation is good and sad when it is bad is the common perception but the better way is to be indifferent to every situation and accept it as it is which makes it easier to adapt.

- May all beings be well and happy. 

Limitations

Just a few things I have found interesting that would be nice to incorporate into our day to day lives.

Quote: “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein

The holding back - Usually we tend to look back and feel less of ourselves or avoid doing what is required of us, taking into consideration bad experiences from the past.

Story:

A man once noticed an elephant being tied to a pole using normal rope and was wondering why the elephant who could easily break away made no attempt to free itself, so he decided to ask the mahout himself. The mahouts' explanation was that when the elephant was just a baby it was tied using the rope which was enough to restraint the animal then. The animal had attempted to escape many times but has failed to free itself and the notion that it the rope is too strong for it to break away has been with the animal ever since. The animal who is now a strong adult elephant still holds onto that memory and does not know about how easily it can break away.

What has to be realised is that you do not have to search for answers elsewhere, the wisdom is with you itself and is waiting to be found. This was explained in one of the talks I watched as a scenario where a man who goes around asking for money whereas the money is in his pocket itself. All he has to do is to reach into his pocket and take it. Wisdom comes with the realiasation that you do not have to seek answers elsewhere but through oneself.

- May all beings be well and happy. 

Bad Times ?

Bad experiences feels..umm bad :P but the more you have, the more you start to understand what others go through. If a bad experience does not make one turn evil and stuff because of the hurt feelings, you could in fact be able to understand your surroundings better.

Most of these unpleasant experiences can be said to be because of wrong views, or ideas. Also they are mainly associated with either something or someone . Trick is to not to be affected, to expect the unexpected. People around you will change their mind all the time (you must be yourself) but if one is able to be calm in such scenarios and NOT repeat the situation over and over in one's head, gradually it should pass.

The more the experiences, the more you will be able to see the view of other people ,as you have been in similar situations. Point being that no one wants to face any kind of bad experience, but if dealt with any, not being affected by it and not holding onto things should do the trick, however this is one of the most difficult things to do, but it is definitely not impossible.

So leave those heavy burdens of unpleasant experiences aside and live calmly.

- May all beings be well and happy. 

Think you need advice ?

Advice is a funny thing, usually a person has his/her own perception of what is wrong and right but sometimes still seeks advice. Unless in a situation where some sort of knowledge or experience is lacking, seeking advice can be somewhat a funny business.

Ever noticed how advice is there in various forms? and two people can give contrasting views on the same matter. What do you do then ? Obviously you do what your minds wants you to do, you choose the advice of whoever who said what you wanted to hear. This is mainly due to being unable to make a decision and needing that kick from someone to go ahead with what you want to do. So does advice work then? Usually you end up doing what you want to do.

Next interesting thing I noticed is how advice is asked for. Ever noticed how when asking advice you emphasis on the parts you want to tell, and perhaps purposely leave some important bits and pieces of your story out? This is again mainly in order for your benefit, your mind will make sure you tell the story not as it is, but emphasizing on the bits and pieces that you want to be heard.

Advice is mainly looked for at bad and desperate times, when you feel down, like the unluckiest person on the planet (you just remembered one situation didn't you :P ). The fact about these situations and even the good ones are that they change ! In a bad situation you can always expect a good one around the corner and the other way around. Lets go into a story shall we :)

Once upon a time... ;) There lived a young king, He usually celebrated for days over profits, victories and so on, spending quite a bit of his assets, however when things were not going as well as he expected he would stay in his castle locked up and depressed. This was seen as a problem by his advisers, and as a solution they made him a ring with the words "This will change" engraved on it. The king saw it during every situation, when he was happy he saw the ring and hence knew that it would change hence did not overly celebrate and during bad times he knew similarly that this would change and hence did not spend time depressed and repenting but rather did what he thought was best.

Seeking advice should be done carefully and with an open mind. The wrong advice could land you in a worse position that you were in to begin with. Do not rush for solutions when things are not going well, know it will change and find the best solution you can find calmly (easily said than done).

- May all beings be well and happy.