𝘾 𝙖 𝙡 𝙢 🌼 A Pocket Guide To Breathe Easy

i'm happy with a new routine, but i go back to the way i was

The problem.

I've learned so many good things. I've changed my life to be healthier. I've absorbed wisdom. I have begun a breathtaking new routine, and I'm happy, but then I go back to the way I was.

The Zen understanding.

Even those who have been practicing Zen Buddhism for years and decades fail to be wise all the time. We are human, and we will continue to lapse. It is not a problem; the problem is believing that learning is something you do only once.

We think, "I have learned this great, wise thing, so I am changed." But this is not true. You are changed for that moment; you have the fire to change your ways that moment; but you have not changed.

Learning is a cycle.

Learning is a cycle, with its moments of strength and weaknesses. Slowly you learn something, learn it again better, learn it again better, and so on.

The Zen application.

Life is a practice, and a practice is your life.

Take every opportunity to practice your new routine, new your wise way of being. But don't despair if you revert to your former practice. This is natural. As long as you keep trying, and keep pushing, you are doing the right thing.

Do your routine regardless of how you feel, and if it doesn't feel inspiring or bold or wise, that is okay. Enlightenment is not the candle being lit; it is the candle remaining lit for as long as there is a candle to burn. Once the candle is gone, there is nothing you can do, but until then there is everything you can do.

This lit candle that is you: it does not need to be the hottest, the brightest, or the best. It does not have to burn the way it did at the start. Indeed, that is impossible, because you (the candle) is always changing. Change and growth is natural.

Do not despair, keep on trying, and expect nothing. The practice is the goal, it is the reward, and it is all that matters.