Work, work, work. But do not be afraid to let go and start again. Trust that life always has good things to offer. Oftentimes we can be ready to accept these blessings by letting go and starting anew. Every breath is new, and we can experience peace and happiness by paying attention to that breath. From how it goes to our nostrils, to our neck, lungs, stomach, and slowly back again out to our nose. In between one breath to another, just before we are about to lose air and just before we begin to exhale, we can begin to notice a space, a pause, a silence, and even emptiness. That emptiness can sometimes be a cause of fear. Because if we dwell in that place we realize that we are nothing and we are no longer able to make sense of who we are and why we are doing things. We are afraid of being nothing. I am nothing, and all that I have done makes no sense. They will all be gone as I am.
This is the reason why I am always in awe of stories on how zen teachers would spend the whole day making elaborate designs on a sand garden. Yet at the end of the day, they just erase all of it. I believe it is a remarkable demonstration and practice of non attachment, working so hard with all one's effort and yet not being determined and enslaved by one's work. A work of art is a reflection of the artist, but the artist is more than his work of art. He is free and he can change himself. He can also make new creations as his old works and ideas become irrelevant or useless. Trusting thyself and the inner artist is the same as braving into that nothingness.
Rudyard Kipling says that we should be able to dream without making our dreams our master, think without making thoughts our aim, meet with triumph and failure and treat those two impostors just the same. He says we should be able to make one heap of all our winnings and risk them on something important and then lose and start again without "breathing a word about our loss". "Not breathing a word about our loss' and treating success and failure in the same way and both as impostors means that we are more than what we do and what we feel we have failed or accomplished. Like the zen teacher, Kipling is also teaching us about non attachment. In the end, everything that we do are like elaborate drawings on a sand. The wind will later blow or erode it away. Erasing the drawing ourselves means a practice of not letting these things determine who we are and being ready to start fresh. As with our breath, air comes and it goes. The simple act of paying attention to how this happens is a way of letting go or 'dying' from our former self. We should always die in this sense so we can always live.
To live means not just to be physically alive in a way biologists and doctors would define it. It means being able to do new things, enjoy knew things, and accept new things that make our life full. Sometimes this means being finally able to acknowledge the things you have now. Some of which are new things and very beautiful things, persons, and experiences. Hence, letting go does not mean losing something or even gaining something. Sometimes, it just means being happy and ok once again.
This is the reason why I am always in awe of stories on how zen teachers would spend the whole day making elaborate designs on a sand garden. Yet at the end of the day, they just erase all of it. I believe it is a remarkable demonstration and practice of non attachment, working so hard with all one's effort and yet not being determined and enslaved by one's work. A work of art is a reflection of the artist, but the artist is more than his work of art. He is free and he can change himself. He can also make new creations as his old works and ideas become irrelevant or useless. Trusting thyself and the inner artist is the same as braving into that nothingness.
Rudyard Kipling says that we should be able to dream without making our dreams our master, think without making thoughts our aim, meet with triumph and failure and treat those two impostors just the same. He says we should be able to make one heap of all our winnings and risk them on something important and then lose and start again without "breathing a word about our loss". "Not breathing a word about our loss' and treating success and failure in the same way and both as impostors means that we are more than what we do and what we feel we have failed or accomplished. Like the zen teacher, Kipling is also teaching us about non attachment. In the end, everything that we do are like elaborate drawings on a sand. The wind will later blow or erode it away. Erasing the drawing ourselves means a practice of not letting these things determine who we are and being ready to start fresh. As with our breath, air comes and it goes. The simple act of paying attention to how this happens is a way of letting go or 'dying' from our former self. We should always die in this sense so we can always live.
To live means not just to be physically alive in a way biologists and doctors would define it. It means being able to do new things, enjoy knew things, and accept new things that make our life full. Sometimes this means being finally able to acknowledge the things you have now. Some of which are new things and very beautiful things, persons, and experiences. Hence, letting go does not mean losing something or even gaining something. Sometimes, it just means being happy and ok once again.