Always Chasin’

Funny how that thing we call samsara works. There’s always something better just over there. Just out of reach. Close. Then so far. Oh. It’s back. Damm. I don’t want it anymore and there’s something new. Razzle dazzle. Super shiny. I hate the old and want the new thing. Lost the new thing. Stuck craving that new thing again only to have an even newer, better thing enter my thoughts.

Repeat again. It’s quite cyclical as we all know

At least we semi-quasi-still-not-yet-enlightened, shit-stained, yet spotless Buddhas-in-training know this is part of the gig of being human.

But does that help us feel better about it all? We have taken the red pill after all.

I was thinking about this recently after a chat with a spiritual friend who mentioned how fortunate I am to have a bunch of helpful strategies and terms in my ‘toolbox’ to help me better understand and navigate the world. Yes. I do feel quite lucky at times for this. What used to be filled before with hopes of pacifying pain with drugs, alcohol, love, food, <insert anything in this space that would offer some fleeting feeling of okay-ness> is now filled with understanding my motivations, the motivations of others and a deeper level of what’s at play. That step back to examine before reacting. I do suppose that is quite helpful and has served me well.

Then I wondered, what kind of life I would have had, had Buddhism not entered my life when it did. Not to get all “Sliding Doors” over here but I sometimes find myself indulging in thoughts to what my life would have been like had I not had the karmic Dharmic seeds blow through my life and take root.

Funny how life turns out.

May we all be free from suffering.