LIFE AS IT IS

One of my all-time favourite Buddhist quotes is: “Before enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water. After enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water.”

Why I love this so much is because I seem to have a habit of fantasizing life and having super perfect expectations. I always set my goals high and envision the success or ease which I am going to accomplish one of these fine days. I have a tendency to visualise for myself a time of coasting or catching the thermals. I sort of justify to myself that if I do a lot of uphill pedalling that I am going to enjoy a rather lengthy respite as I free wheel downhill. The hard truth about that is that the uphill takes a lot longer than the rather disappointingly short freedom ride down the other side.

I reckon life’s a lot like that. It is a fact that hardships, hard work and bad things happen to good and bad people indiscriminately. And just because we plug away and work very conscientiously doesn’t guarantee that life is going to let up.

It seems synonymous with our human condition and our common pursuit of happiness that we mistakenly assume that when we have done enough lessons, gained enough experience and evolved as spiritual beings, that life will become easy. Can you relate?

One of Buddha’s four noble truths is that all life is ‘dukkha’. And roughly translated this means all life is impermanent.

Life has its ups and its downs, but neither will last forever. The recipe for navigating through life without creating suffering or unnecessary misery for yourself is to accept both the good with the bad, knowing that it is as it is. It is as it is meant to be. Life is not a flat line.

But here’s the thing, if you build inner resistance towards the climbs or have craving for the downhills you create an inner stress for yourself that is unhealthy. You find that you are always yearning or fighting, craving or hating, always fixated on the future or angry with the past, and in both these scenarios you are not able to find happiness in the present moment.

This discontent creates dis-ease not only in the mind, but also the emotions and the physical body. And stress turns our physiology acid, an environment in which disease thrives.

No wonder we have such an epidemic of cancer today.

So my note to myself for this week is….

Breathe Nicolette.

Take a respite from the rat race.

Spend time alone, in silence.

Count your blessings.

And be kind to yourself as you move gently on your path in grace and ease.

Wherever you are, dear soul, I wish you mercy and acceptance as you carry your burdens and face your hardships. Just remember they will only endure for a season.

Have a beautiful week.

Love
Nicolette