When I was a child, I like many of you often heard that anything worth having was not to be easily obtained. As a child that did not resonate much with my spontaneous childish whims, but over the years with attention I saw the truth peeking out within that sentiment.
It is important to take a long-range view. No great achievement is accomplished overnight or without difficulty. Should benefits be obtained easily without making any efforts, we’d probably just as easily abandon or never take up the task of learning through effort and application (two of our greatest teachers) and end up miserable as a consequence.
When we are students desiring to get into a college or try out for a team or club we do not blink an eye at the efforts required, the nights of study and memorization, gaining an abundance of knowledge and ability. What we fail to recognize outside of that realm is that life follows basically the same formula: We show up, we are given opportunities to learn our lessons and put our skills into practice. In fact we could say this is essentially the practice of Buddhahood.
Peace and Love, Jim
