What When We Do It Leads to Eternal Well-Being

We think we have plenty of time, especially when we are young and vibrant. Youth intoxicates us into thinking we have time to postpone what is important to us. We stall rather than pause. We put off and delay when what we need to do is contemplate how we live our life. We need to answer the question to ourselves: What are we doing with our life?

Our tendency is to repeat the same old thing over and over again never realizing that this repetitive habit nails us to our inner dissatisfaction and discontent.

 

The reason why we do not get anywhere (spiritually) is that we do not know our limits….”

 

We think tomorrow is a better day to be alone, to sit down and consider the question: “What are we doing with our life?”

Our answer depends on how we see life. If we think we have plenty of time, we postpone looking at this question. We act on the propaganda of a consumer world of getting another thing to end the yearning inside of us.

Over the years we need to continue to pay attention to this question every day throughout the day since every day it is challenged by the tendency to rely on old habits and challenged by countless mental distractions.

The best time is right now. To visit and revisit what is important right now. And to remember these inescapable Truths that support our willingness to continue on this path. The power of these Truths comes when we know these Truths firsthand and remember them everyday.

The body and mind will grow old.

The body and mind will get sick.

The body and mind will die.

Everything we hold dear will be lost.

Impermanence shakes up the lazy, neglectful and wishful thinking that can pervade our mind-attitudes giving us enough insight into meeting what needs attention, meeting what is most important. We know we cannot rely on the body, the mind or all those other things we hold dear to fill the yearning.

In solitary, silent contemplation we have the opportunity to see what needs attention. We study the longing that comes in the form of wanting something else, somewhere else and begin to find well-being is there within us in the situation we are in. IT is there, in the well-being of the moment right where we are that we take action.

In most cases, the action consists of the ordinary duties of the world of things; brushing teeth, washing hands, reading the mail, changing diapers, comforting a loved one, going for a walk, sweeping the floor, making a meal, going shopping, writing a check, driving to work….an endless array of duties to be fulfilled right in the situation of our life as it is.

We still the yearning by using time to tend to it in silence and solitude and contemplation. Once it is settled we are available to meet the countless things that show up in our life everyday with concentrated attention. The work is akin to chopping wood and carrying water which is no easy duty when the mind yearns for something else, somewhere else. Even a little taint of yearning can make the bucket weigh a ton and the wood wet.