Everything that feels good, is good for us!!!
When I came back from holidays I asked myself what do we do different during holidays? I realized that it is not only a matter of what we do differently, but how different we live during holidays.
Often in our daily life we are living quickly, and are more in the future or in the past than in the present. We often live from one holiday to the next, missing the in-between period. It is a kind of escape from work, challenges, and the difficulties of daily life. This escape works for a moment but unfortunately not for longer periods of time.
I remember a story of a lady who I met during one of the silent retreats. It was a moment of sharing when she said “When I knw I had only a few years before I retired, I was looking forward to thiat moment. Now I am retired and I don’t like it”. She started to cry. I understand her deep feeling of sadness, separation, loneliness and a realization of emptiness. It is an effect of living in the future. We all may find ourselves in an empty hole one day. It is important to remember that acceptance is a healer.
I often advise my students not to wait until the holidays to slow down and enjoy the present moment. I advise them to “do something” everyday that motivates and recharges them. Simply by setting an intention each morning, by noticing what is already in our life and being grateful for, by bringing more attention, understanding and love into our consciousness, we start living our dream life.
“You work 8 hours to live 4. You work 6 days to enjoy 1. You work 8 hours to eat in 15 minutes. You work 8 hours to sleep 5 hours. You work all year just to take a week or two of vacation. You work all your life to retire in old age and contemplate only your last breaths. Eventually you realize that life is nothing but a parody of yourself, practicing for your own oblivion. We have become so accustomed to material and social slavery that we no longer see the chains. Life is a short journey, live it! Collect memories, not material things!” Zahier Adams
It is time to wake up and free ourselves from the shackles of negative habits. It is time to practice together again. Let us live in attention, choose what is important and meaningful and do more of things which are energising us and we feel good with, because everything that feels good, is good for us!!!