Learn and Use
May 12th, 2008 | Teachings |People often ask how they can carry the warm feelings they get from a retreat into their ‘real’ lives. It is not so hard to carry them you see. What happens is we get back into the real world as you call it and we forget we have those feelings or we forget to use them.
My boss makes me angry, the traffic bothers me, my spouse does not this or that, and that is how I lose my sense of peace. No my friends, you do not lose it, you do not use it. Use your sense of peace to make sense of the situation that troubles you. You have two choices. Let the habitual feelings of anger or resentment bubble up to the surface, or use your inner peace to stay on an even keel.
What is difficult is that we fall into the habitual way of thinking quite easily. Even people with many years spent in a temple report falling back into their old ways quite easily. Then they feel they wasted their time and learned nothing but this is not so.
Learn and use, learn and use. Do not learn and forget or file away those feelings of warmth in the back corners of your mind. What good is it if you do not use it? One must realize when habitual patterns are re-emerging and put an end to them. When you first observe them, you must think “Ah, hello old friend.” Then invite him to leave immediately. Instead, welcome your new best friend, peace. So you see, observe and substitute.
If we can learn a new positive habitual pattern, we will fall into that habit and that habit is a good one! You see, life is all one. We sometimes divide up our life into work, home, family, friends and have a different mask for each. But it is all one. There is no reason you cannot carry peace into other facets of your life. We do not need to wear different masks. Be mindful and courageous and you can learn and use.
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