"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mahatma Gandhi
Life isn't a race won by the fastest. If we set a goal and don't attain it within the time frame we set, we have not failed but must readjust our schedule. Living to the fullest doesn't mean living in the fast lane. It means taking the scenic route, stopping often to appreciate the view, and sharing the ride.
The Dali Lama: "What we usually experience as pleasure is mostly a diminishment of pain. If good food or drink, for example, really were just pleasurable - if they had an inner nature of pleasure - then no matter how much we ate or drank, we would feel greater and greater happiness in equal measure. Instead if we partake excessively we begin to suffer in our bodies and our minds."
And here are abbreviated summaries of some of his suggestions for a daily practice geared at increasing our mindfulness: 1. Examine your motivation as often as you can. 2. At night examine what you did during the day. 3. Analyze your life closely. 4. Adopt a positive attitude in the face of difficulty. 5. Regularly evaluate the negative and positive effects of feelings and action. 6. Continue your analysis. 7. Repeated reflection on the disadvantages of selfish behavior will diminish this behavior.
Man, it's a lot of personal inventories over and over and over. Buddhists must be difficult students just like alcoholics: repeat the same thing over and over and over. The Lama doesn't even bother changing his words very much, preferring the same simple declarations.
Do this do this do this do this do this and . . . oh, yeah . . . do this, too.
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