I want things. Is that okay? Is it okay to want inner peace and a really large house? Is it alright to want to reach the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment, while driving a black Range Rover Sport with tan leather interior? I apologize to those of you who expected more from me. I am owning up. And the list doesn’t stop there. I want things. I want material things, and despite all my efforts to find zen, these desires continue to badger.
What can I say? I’m not the Dalai Lama. I can’t seem to let go of this steady stream of desire. I want shoes and handbags and brand new pots and pans. I want chiseled abs and nicer hair and someone to read this blog and offer me a book deal and maybe a stint on Oprah. I do. I want to be rich and accomplished and look beautiful while doing so. Uh huh. That’s right, I said it.
It is so easy to believe that there are conditions that are prerequisite to finding happiness. We are filled with “I can’t wait until”s and “as soon as we”s. We live in anticipation of days to come. We believe that we need certain things and perfect situations in order to be satisfied and content. But here’s the big joke. Here’s the cliché of clichés. Here is the nugget of truth that we can find on bumper stickers and in graduation speeches and hung up in frames on the walls of diners across America: “It is not about the destination. It’s about the journey.”
It is not about the destination. There is no destination. We will never reach the end. The Range Rover will rust and the abs will mush and at the end of it all we turn into dust. Nothing is permanent. Nothing will ever truly satiate us. The wanting is boundless. It’s an animal. It will always arise within us. We have to choose to find happiness and peace and deep satisfaction in the utterly unpredictable and impermanent journey that is unfolding right now. We have to choose to find contentment in the moments in between the wanting.
It is within the soft subtle breath between our desire that the marrow of life lies.
Tuesday, June 29
Monday, June 7
Spring Cleaning
Excuse me, hello? Have I lost your attention? Are you quite sick of hearing me grasp desperately at figuring it all out, arrive at hopeful conclusions, and then tumble into confusion once again? Oh really? That’s’ funny. So am I. Yet here I am once more, having another go at it.
My head is on super-speed. My thoughts fly in and out faster than I can lasso them up and get them down on paper. I’m not boasting. It’s the human condition. We spend far too much time in the administrative power house that is our brain. I suppose we need it. To, you know, function and stuff. But I think it's overrated. And I'd like to turn the damn thing off.
I need a vacation from my brain. I need it to sleep for a while whilst I run up there and clear some junk out. I need to feng shui that thing. Swifter duster it. Get rid of the old. I need to go through those dirty old file cabinets and throw some shit out. It’s time for it to go. It’s time to let it go. It is time to make room for the new. It is time to stop beating the drum of what is and start looking with new eyes at what hovers right beneath those thoughts that pound our brains.
It’s so close. We’re so close, always, to the revelation, to the paradigm shift, the “ah ha” moment. It’s that heavy file cabinet that binds us, those old thoughts and ways of behaving, the deep ruts we’ve dug ourselves into after years and years of doing it the same way, the only way we’ve known, again and again and again. And then we sing, this is how it is, this is how it is, oh woe is me, this is how it is. I say get rid of that old tune. Climb out of the rut. There are new ways. Clean, new, shiny, better ways! Stretch those legs. Get a little uncomfortable. It’s alright. It’s time. It is time. It is time for some real changes.
So get out your swifter dusters, people. Summer's just around the corner. It is time for some serious spring cleaning.
My head is on super-speed. My thoughts fly in and out faster than I can lasso them up and get them down on paper. I’m not boasting. It’s the human condition. We spend far too much time in the administrative power house that is our brain. I suppose we need it. To, you know, function and stuff. But I think it's overrated. And I'd like to turn the damn thing off.
I need a vacation from my brain. I need it to sleep for a while whilst I run up there and clear some junk out. I need to feng shui that thing. Swifter duster it. Get rid of the old. I need to go through those dirty old file cabinets and throw some shit out. It’s time for it to go. It’s time to let it go. It is time to make room for the new. It is time to stop beating the drum of what is and start looking with new eyes at what hovers right beneath those thoughts that pound our brains.
It’s so close. We’re so close, always, to the revelation, to the paradigm shift, the “ah ha” moment. It’s that heavy file cabinet that binds us, those old thoughts and ways of behaving, the deep ruts we’ve dug ourselves into after years and years of doing it the same way, the only way we’ve known, again and again and again. And then we sing, this is how it is, this is how it is, oh woe is me, this is how it is. I say get rid of that old tune. Climb out of the rut. There are new ways. Clean, new, shiny, better ways! Stretch those legs. Get a little uncomfortable. It’s alright. It’s time. It is time. It is time for some real changes.
So get out your swifter dusters, people. Summer's just around the corner. It is time for some serious spring cleaning.
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