What If Your Life Was A Blank Canvas?

Sandy Hibbard — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 00:19:31 +0000

I received this beautiful blog post from ZenHabits.net and it made me step back and take in a nice deep breath and confirm that it is all ok. That I am the one in control of this vessel. That I am the one writing the script for my life. So, I must share it with you….what would you do if your life was an empty container? if it were, what would you put in it? Read on –

The Empty Container
By Leo Babauta

Our lives get so complicated not overnight but gradually.

The complications creep up on us, one insignificant step at a time.
Today I order something online, tomorrow someone gives me a gift, then I get a free giveaway, then I decide I need some new tools. One item at a time, the clutter accumulates, because I’m not constantly purging the old.

Today I say yes to an email request, tomorrow I say yes to a party invitation, then I get asked to a quick cup of coffee, then I decide to be a part of a project. One yes at a time, and soon my life is full and I don’t know how I got so busy.

I look at a news site, then a social media site, then my email, then read an interesting article, then watch an online video someone sent me … and soon my day is gone, and I didn’t get much done, and my life gets eaten away in minuscule bites.

How do we protect against this feature creep, this complication creep? We have to take a step back, regularly.

Instead of thinking, “How can I get rid of this complicated mess?” … let’s ask, “What if I started with a blank slate?”

What would you do if your life was a blank slate?

If it were an empty container, with limited space, what would you put in it?

For me, I might put in some play time and reading time with my kids; coffee time and exercise time with my wife; some long walks and talks with good friends and close relatives; work that matters to me and that helps others; continual learning; and time alone to meditate and spend with my thoughts and a good book.

Those are the things that I’d put into my empty container, because they feel right to me. What would you choose?

Once we’ve figured that out, we know what belongs in the container … now we just need to constantly look at things and activities and requests and tasks, and ask: “Is this one of my container items?”

Love and peace!
Sandy

The Painful Beauty of Impermanence

Sandy Hibbard — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 19:05:42 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! I want to share a beautiful article that I received this morning from one of the blogs I subscribe to – ZEN HABITS. The writer talks about the brevity of life and urges us not to take one single moment for granted.
Although I “get” the philosophy of living in the “universe of now”, and talk it up all the time, it remains a real challenge even for me. To break away from the habits of social media and technology that clutter our life with noise that makes no sense to our soul is a hurdle we must mount. Unnecessary frantic worrying about money, status or what people think of us simply robs us of the beauty of the moment. Yet I deeply understand the challenges of daily life, the need for future planning, and for placing our past experiences into a compassionate historical context. We have to make money to pay the mortgage right? But these things must be held in perspective and be balanced in our lives so that they do not rob us of the beauty and possibilities that live in today.
Just like the flowers in my garden that I posted this morning on Facebook, they will only be here for a moment. But while they are here they are of the most exquisite beauty and bring pleasure and delight just by being a flower!
I am going to read this article twice and hope it will sink in deep. Enjoy.
Love and hugs….
Sandy
******************************
The Painful Beauty of Impermanence
By Leo Babauta at www.ZenHabits.net.
The cherry blossom falls after its short beautiful bloom.
It floats gently down to earth. Its life is over, but the limitedness of its existence is one of the biggest reasons the blossom is so gorgeous. If we knew that the blossom would last forever, it wouldn’t have the same poignant beauty, and we’d take it for granted.
The blossom’s impermanence, its fleetingness, its transience — this is why we appreciate it.
Our lives are similarly short. We have but a moment on this rock, but we forget that impermanence and take our days for granted. We fritter away those days with the wasted activities of TV, social media, computer games.
If we remember the impermanence of life, perhaps we could appreciate its gentle passing with as much appreciation as a cherry blossom.
Impermanence and Suffering
Our struggle with impermanence causes much, if not all, of our suffering. We don’t want things to change, we want things to be the way we want them. And when they aren’t, we are stressed out, frustrated, disappointed, grieving, mourning, wishing things were different.
But what if we could accept this impermanence, accept the reality of this moment, embrace it as we do the cherry blossom?
We might be a bit more at peace with reality:
My wife’s father has dementia, and this means the painful decline of his life. This is understandably hard for those of us who love him, but what if we could appreciate the beauty of his life, and who he is at this moment, instead of struggling against the loss of what he was?
My father has diabetes and is suffering declining health, and that’s hard for me and my siblings to watch. But what if we found the beauty in the moments we still have with him, and appreciate what he’s given us already?
There is some fat on my stomach, and when I look at it I sometimes wish for the leanness of my youth. What if, instead, I could see the aging as a reminder of life’s impermanence, and realize that I have less time now than I did at 19, and set out to make the most of the moments I have left?
We have a son moving on to adulthood, which is difficult for us because it’s like we’re losing a child, and he’ll be going out into the world without our protection, exposed to the world’s many daggers and insults. What if instead we appreciate the moments we have with him in our home, and embrace the new son we have, grown and ready to experience a new life?
I have some work I’ve been resisting for various reasons, probably because I’m afraid I don’t know what I’m doing and think it will disappoint people. But I can’t know what life will bring, and can’t control what will come. All I can do is appreciate this moment, and endeavor to do my best with this work, and not squander the precious time I’ve been given to do this work.
There are times I get frustrated with not sticking to a plan, because yes, I fail at sticking to things like everyone else. But this is life — unexpected, uncontrollable, not according to plan. We want to control things by planning and sticking to a plan, but life changes and fails to conform. We can embrace this uncontrollable reality by accepting what happens, adjusting, figuring out a new plan in the moment and accepting that this might not turn out as we expect either.
Often unexpected changes come up to our day that cause frustration. A crisis, an unexpected visitor, an unplanned event. We can resist these changes and be angry, or accept that life is unpredictable, full of changes, and appreciate this ever-changing nature of life as part of its wonder.
In each of these situations, the impermanent, ever-changing nature of life can cause stress, frustration, sadness and anger. But when we embrace the impermanence and work with it, life can be a joy, and we can appreciate the painful beauty of this temporary existence.
As we watch the blossom falling, we see ourselves in it, and we feel the gravity of the blossom falling.

zen habits – Saturday Soul with Sandy Hibbard

What If Your Life Was A Blank Canvas?

The Painful Beauty of Impermanence