“So the question is not: How can we obtain love and understanding? The question is whether we have the capacity of generating love and understanding ourselves…true love is like that too. Loving one person is really an opportunity to learn to love all people. If you have the capacity to love and to understand, you can do that now, you don’t have to wait. When we succeed in this, our worry and fear go away, and we feel wonderful right away.” –Thich Nhat Hahn Answers from the Heart
This is an excellent post from the folks at The Art of Manliness. It is about the time-tested value of going for a walk.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/04/22/solvitur-ambulando-it-is-solved-by-walking/
I was planning to visit my son at college. He knew I was going to see him Thursday. My wife had sent him a text on Monday, telling him that we would be making the 3-hour drive to have lunch with him. He responded with his typical concise “ok.” We were very busy until Wednesday night, but my wife sent a text around 6 pm, “We are coming for lunch tomorrow.” He did not respond. No big deal, this is typical of my atypical son who does not check texts very often, and seems to reply even less. At 10:30 pm the night before our trip, I sent a text to him…no response. Again, this is typical, he was probably working and couldn’t check it. As we departed for his college Thursday morning, I sent a new text, “We are coming for lunch today.” I did not receive a reply. Continue reading
We should all be so lucky to find our dream calling. That thing that we are so called to doing that we are “self-actualized” (see Maslow’s Hierarchy; also see The Problem with Maslow). I wonder if any of you have had a self-dialogue like I have had similar to the ones below:
“As soon as I find my calling, then I’ll be happy. Certainly, what I am doing now certainly is not it. I am definitely not fully satisfied doing this/being here. I need to find my dream job/life/place to live/love/home/etc., and then I will find happiness.” YOU ARE STUCK IN A TASK THAT IS NOT YOUR LOVE.
or maybe you’re here:
“Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God.” –Marcus’ Meditations Book 7
In this case, Marcus Aurelius wants to stress to himself that to be simple and modest is best. As for the things which “lie between virtue and vice,” maybe we really don’t know it all. Maybe we don’t know the answer. We all have our judgments of right and wrong, but maybe we should stop judging, at least a little bit. Sometimes, we might just be better to just breathe…to just “be.” Don’t judge, like we always do as humans…just exist, take a breath, take several breaths. Be like the stone at the bottom of the river and let the water flow over you, and just be there and exist…not judging.
Take some time, and just be.
When you’ve mastered that, then love everything around you (especially “mankind”). Sometimes this is hard to do, no? ALL of mankind? Really, really try. Don’t hold back. Love all of mankind. All that is happening now, is meant to happen. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It is all under the auspices of the cosmos, our divine existence.
Young or old…
Be good to yourself, be good to those close, be good to those beyond (me, we, they…).
