Zen & the Art of Relating to Difficulty vs Avoidance

     “What we repeatedly do becomes what we are. The practice of sitting and breathing to still the mind is the practice of being just what you are – it is enlightened being. Yet it can be hard at times to bend the will to keep the appointment with practice. We humans seem to fear what seems hard and we long for comfort, even though we keep discovering that the greatest treasure is what we find in ourselves at the far end of any really challenging process. But the difficult path is always the path of genuine life: difficulty makes the Way genuine. Meeting with fear of difficulty is an act that sparks with creative energy. Avoiding is finally the more demanding and costly battle. Practice is a commitment to cease choosing avoidance, to refuse to walk through your life as a ghost.”

        Murphy S. Upside-down zen. Finding the marvelous in the ordinary. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006.

     See also: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/01/shine-light-of-awareness-embrace-process.html

Photo: erringtont   www.dpreview.com