Re: Two sides of a coin

[Guest guest]

I am right there with you on that Theresa! That is really " The Happiness Trap "

in a nut shell isn't it? I so identify with your saying your mind insists on

having to like, accept, and feel comfortable with all aspects of your everyday

life in order to move forward!! This is where I really get confused. That is

what I am currently facing i think with my teaching. That image that my mind

gives me that a teacher is supposed to be " in charge " doesn't mesh with feelings

of anxiety I get. According to my mind, an " in charge " person is going to feel

calm confident, etc. After all, someone who teaches someone else should surely

not feel doubtful!! Boy, my mind is asking me to carry a heavy load is it

not???? I know this is something we all have versions of!!!

> > >

> > > A life lived as if it was a horizontal line on a happiness graph, with no

ups or downs, is not a life worth living.

> > >

> > > To know joy, we have to know pain. A long time go, I read a book by Alan

Watts, the great Zen teacher, where he said that a person who was blind from

birth didn't know what darkness was, since he/she had nothing to compare it to.

> > >

> > > The graph that charts our lives must have highs as well as lows. We have

to know the vallies of anxiety and despair in order to experience the summits of

our joys.

> > >

> > > Our lives are like two sides of a coin, one side has happiness and biss,

the other side despair and pain. We can't truly know one side unless we know the

other.

> > >

> > > The trick is, and one I struggle with every day, is learning how to accept

and love both sides of the coin that is my life. If I want to love my highs, I

must somehow learn to love my lows.

> > >

> > > Being alive right now and in this place is amazing, and being able to

experience my life with all its joys and agonies is a miracle beyond

description.

> > >

> > > Cheers,

> > > Stan

> > >

> >

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