As you go through life you recognize that some things just will not happen.
I now know that I will never watch all the movies in my Netflix and Amazon Prime queues.
I will never read all the books piled up in front of my full bookshelves.
I will not visit all the exotic destinations whose vivid descriptions are in my ‘Travel someday’ folder.
There was a time when this would bother me and I would go on a binge to do/read/view as much as I could.
Inevitably I would get tired and give up.
Now this realization does not distress me. In fact, I am utterly at peace with it. So much so that, last week, I deleted more than fifty movies from my Netflix list. There are still far too many there and I will get to the rest by and by.
Try this exercise:
Make a list of all the things that you are dependent on. Things that give you pleasure. Things that you cannot imagine your life without.
Bring each one to mind and contemplate it. Observe the emotions it conjures up. Deeply recognize that, one day, it will be gone. Sit with that knowledge.
Now think about things that bother you. Things that are upsetting and disturbing. Deeply recognize that, one day, they too will go. Sit with that knowledge.
The more you contemplate the impermanence of all things, the more you find that peace finds you. You discover that nothing, but nothing, is worth getting agitated over.
Fifty years ago, I came across this passage in a book. It did not make sense to me then because I was troubled by inability to meditate. Now the truth of it is crystal clear.
“Be firm, steady, and undisturbed in all conditions. Nothing in this world is permanent. The disturbing factors also cannot remain permanently with you to give you perpetual disturbance. They too are finite. Then why worry? In spite of them, be regular. Be determined to pursue unabated joy in your daily meditation.”
Peace!
p.s. If you would like to know where that passage came from, send an email to Jacqueline.Fox@theraoinstitute.com.
