I’ll never forget one of the lessons my teacher shared with our class the last day of coaching school.
He said, “You want to know what 10 years of studying with monks really taught me?”
Of course were are all interested. Who wouldn’t be? Everyone responded back with a resounding “yes!”
“Life’s hard enough. Don’t make it worse.”
Learning to love the things that come across your path is a challenging task to say the least. Life’s not all sprinkles and rainbows. There are really tragic and difficult situations that face just about everyone and they strain the soul.
You don’t have to like what happened. Shoot I don’t even blame you at all if you have the desire to hate it. I can understand that. I feel for you.
But what consequences does holding all of that in you have as that moment has passed along? Remember, life’s hard enough…don’t make it worse.
Meeting your challenges with a sense of love, understanding, compassion and empathy is not decision that happens once and then you’re done and everything is all good.
It’s an endless process. You’re going to sink back into your negative feelings from time to time. That’s okay. Come back to your intentions and work through it again.
But the greatest project of all is meeting yourself with that same amount of grace (maybe even more). Learning to love yourself. Learning to carve out space for who you really are.
That’s the good stuff. That’s when you’re really growing.
Meet yourself on deeper planes and you will find that you can hold space for others as well. The work you do within will reflect outwardly…and visa versa.
When in doubt, apply more love. When really in doubt, apply even more.
Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project