Life is easy except for preferences. Ive noticed that a lot of suffering in my life stems from resisting the way things are, and fighting life at every turn. The way through this for me is to be present in the moment and respond as each situation requires without resistance or attachment. I have many preferences, which are all the ways I want life to be. When life doesnt line up with my preferences I get frustrated and resist it, which only leads to more suffering. When life is going as planned I become attached to the way it is, but then things change as they inevitably do, and I am frustrated once again. Living life without attachment does not mean living without emotion or abandoning our humanity. Living without attachment is the recognition that peace and well-being are not the byproduct of or contingent upon what unfolds in any given set of circumstances. Life is a continuous undulation of ups and downs, but we are never separated from peace and well-being because they are the fundamental nature and essence of who we are. In other words, peace and well-being is not something you have, achieve or attain; they are who or what you are. Consider it a profound spiritual practice to be fully present in each moment without preferences, and to respond as the situation requires without resistance or attachment. For example, a couple weeks ago I went for a run, and strained my right calf. Not what I wanted! At first I was in a place of complete resistance, and all this did was cause suffering in the form of inner upset, frustration, and drama. I realized what I was doing, and decided instead to respond to the situation from a place of acceptance. I quickly determined what I needed to do to address the injury and began doing that. The inner resistance was gone, and the inner turmoil dissipated.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 01:30:14 +0000
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