regenerate

Joy & Acceptance (Part 1)

“I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me.  It is a splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
- G.B. Shaw (via this excellent article by Jonathan Fields)

My definition of joy is high activity – sometimes classified as ‘hard work’. I don’t like the term ‘hard work’ however, because it implies that you’re forcing yourself to do something. I think work should be  a natural outpouring of wanting to be fully involved and engaged in life. Yes, it is hard sometimes – like everything else in life.

A brief Twitter exchange with @JoshuaGuffey the other night was pretty illuminating – he mentioned that according to Shinzen Young ”suffering = resistance TIMES pain”.

I accept the present moment as it is – I see no need to change it. However unpleasant the emotion I am experiencing is, I choose to observe it, to be with it and to understand it. Sometimes this understanding only comes much later. Acceptance is easier now that I have more faith in life itself and it’s ability to support me. For a long time I believed that I had to fight it to get what I want. No longer. I now try to remember that everything happens in its own time. I try to have patience.

So, I’ve been a lot less stressed out this week than I was last week. Work was a lot easier this week and I feel like I’m actually making progress and finally getting up to speed with things.