I have been confronted with many difficulties throughout the course of
my life, and my country is going through a critical period. But I laugh often,
and my laughter is contagious. When people ask me how I find the strength to
laugh now, I reply that I am a professional laugher. [...]
The life of exile is an unfortunate life, but I have always tried to
cultivate a happy state of mind, appreciating the opportunities this existence
without a settled home, far from all protocol, has offered me. This way I have
been able to preserve my inner peace.
If we are content just to think that compassion, rationality, and
patience are good, that is not actually enough to develop these qualities.
Difficulties provide the occasion to put them into practice. Who can make such
occasions arise? Certainly not our friends, but rather our enemies, for they
are the ones who pose the most problems. So that we truly want to progress on
the path, we must regard our enemies as our best teachers.
For whoever holds love and compassion in high esteem, the practice of
tolerance is essential, and it requires an enemy. We must be grateful to our
enemies, then, because they help us best engender a serene mind! Anger and
hatred are the real enemies that we must confront and defeat, not the “enemies”
who appear from time to time in our lives.
Of course it is natural and right that we all want to have friends. I
often say jokingly that a truly selfish person must be altruistic! You have to
take care of others, of their well-being, by helping them and serving them, to
have even more friends and make more smiles blossom. The result? When you
yourself need help, you will find all you need! On the other hand, if you
neglect others’ happiness, you will be the loser in the long run. Is friendship
born of arguments, anger, jealousy, and unbridled competition? I don’t think
so. Only affection produces authentic friends. […]
As for me, I always want more friends. I love smiles, and my wish is to
see more smiles, real smiles, for there are many kinds—sarcastic, artificial,
or diplomatic. Some smiles don’t arouse any satisfaction, and some even
engender suspicion or fear. An authentic smile, though, arouses an authentic
feeling of freshness, and I think the smile belongs only to human beings. If we
want those smiles, we must create the reasons that make them appear.
The Dalai
Lama, in an excerpt from his book "My Spiritual Journey.”
Today’s gift was to send a card to
someone who helped me through a day when I doubted that my giving challenge was
worth the effort. On that day I received a heartfelt card from her telling me
how much she enjoyed reading it. That was the encouragement that I needed to
keep going. Today is day number 365 and I have received numerous blessings.
Thank you for being on this journey with me. Tomorrow I will recap my year of
giving and share some of my feelings and insights that I gained.
In Giving on Day 365,
Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment