Who’s the Zen-est of them All?

So two guys were bragging about their Zen masters.  One guy said, “My Sensei is so woke he can stand on one side of the riverbank,  wave his hands around, and calligraphy appears the other side of the river.” The other guy says, “My Sensei eats when he’s hungry and sleeps when he’s tired.”

Bam. 

Think about it.  Which ability would you rather have?  Which is more useful?  For me it’s a no-brainer:  The ability to listen to my body/mind/spirit, hear it, and take appropriate action in response — consistently — would be a big upgrade from the Push-Through-It, Never Give Up, No Pain/No Gain mentality that still, even after everything, manages to drive my actions so much of the time.

And then I wonder why I feel tired, blue, grouchy, why I get injured, sick, and generally dejected?

It’s not a sustainable, optimal way to live, the push-crash-push-crash-push-crash way I’ve done it in the past.  It’s a hard habit to break, pushing, especially when there’s this inner voice - Evie - who still whispers gently, softly, like the voice of Gd, “You must do more, be more, have more!”  

For Evie, living in a state of ease is what bad people do.  What lazy people do.  Or what people who are too stupid to know better do.  Evie says, “So you want to have a nice time and do what you’re drawn to doing?  Are you too stupid or too lazy to do better than that?” 

Then, on the other end of things, there are a lot of wise folks, spiritual kinda peeps, bible-reading types, psychologists, philosophers, who talk about stuff like:

To Thine Own Self Be True

And to me, that means, don’t join chess club if you don’t want to play chess.  And, DO join chess club if you do.  And it doesn’t matter which one it is as long as it’s my truth.  The gift, one gift, of being human is to discover my own particular flavor of human and be that flavor, rather than trying to be a better one.

There isn’t a better one, for me.  So I’m gonna sleep when tired, eat when hungry, and play when I’m playful.  And not when I’m not.  I’m gonna keep going.

www.livingeveryminuteofit.com