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Feb. 23rd, 2012
Pema Wisdom
Feb. 23rd, 2012 09:05 pm"When bad feelings such as uneasiness, depression, or fear start coming up, notice how you always do the same thing. Notice how you shut down in some habitual, very old way. According to the law of karma, every action has a result. If you stay in bed all day with the covers over your head, if you overeat for the millionth time in your life, if you get drunk, if you get stoned, if it’s just this habitual thing that you think is going to make you feel better, you know that’s going to depress you and make you more discouraged. The older you get, the more you know how it just makes you feel more wretched.
The law of karma says, “Well, how do you want to feel tomorrow, next week, next year, five years from now, ten years from now?” It’s up to you how you use your life. It doesn’t mean that you have to be the best one at cheering up, or that your habitual tendencies never get the better of you. It just has to do with this sense of reminding yourself. Sometimes you can say, “Couldn’t care less,” but after the fourth day of lying under the sheets in your dirty, smelly clothes with your socks on, with the empty bottle next to the bed - whatever the scenario is – you say, “Maybe I should go out and buy a new shirt and take a shower and go look at the ocean or walk in the mountains or make a nice meal or do something to uplift my situation, to cheer myself up.” Even though we may feel very heavy-hearted, instead of eating poison, we can go out and buy the best filet mignon or whatever it might be – in my case, the best peach."
Pema Chodron
The law of karma says, “Well, how do you want to feel tomorrow, next week, next year, five years from now, ten years from now?” It’s up to you how you use your life. It doesn’t mean that you have to be the best one at cheering up, or that your habitual tendencies never get the better of you. It just has to do with this sense of reminding yourself. Sometimes you can say, “Couldn’t care less,” but after the fourth day of lying under the sheets in your dirty, smelly clothes with your socks on, with the empty bottle next to the bed - whatever the scenario is – you say, “Maybe I should go out and buy a new shirt and take a shower and go look at the ocean or walk in the mountains or make a nice meal or do something to uplift my situation, to cheer myself up.” Even though we may feel very heavy-hearted, instead of eating poison, we can go out and buy the best filet mignon or whatever it might be – in my case, the best peach."
Pema Chodron