Grasp it more loosely
A Zen ThingMeditation Point #122
How shall I grasp it?
Do not grasp it.
That which remains when there is no more grasping is the Self.
– – PANCHADASI
Think of water here, or Love. Most things in life can not be forced like grasping water or making another love you. Matter of fact the best things in life come naturally when we do not expect them. Relax. Our desire to grasp things and force them is our desire to control that which is outside of ourselves. Even if you are successful, your success is an illusion. The only thing we can ever hope to control is ourselves. Even here we cannot control everything about ourselves because so much is controlled by the environment around us. But we can control our reaction to that controlling environment.
The lessons of Life and the Martial Arts share much in common. In both we strive to achieve perfection (hopefully). In both we work very hard to achieve success. In both we must learn that which we can control and that which we cannot. But perhaps the most important lesson they both share is that in relaxing, trusting, breathing and not grasping for our goals can we hasten our path to their achievement.
Success is a relative thing and most forget this lesson. To some success is a big house with long list of material things that often sadly includes a spouse and children. To other success is finding their next meal. So keep things in perspective and realize things could always be worse, then relax and enjoy the moment before it is gone. You will find that life comes more easily to you since you will expend so little energy on worrying about and grasping that which you cannot control. Perhaps it is easier because you will be living life instead of attempting to control it.
2 comments
Leave a Reply to Cathy Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Awareness (52) Beliefs (22) Celebrity (38) Christmas (10) Confidence (13) critical thought (18) Diet (17) Entertainment (28) Exercise (16) Failure (13) Fitness (46) Freedom (21) Fun (50) Funny (41) Gun Control (16) Guns (20) Health (26) History (31) Holiday (49) Jokes (12) Karate (38) Kyokushin (28) Liberty (18) Mas Oyama (27) Meditation (21) News (66) Patriotic (17) Perspective (82) Politics (19) Questions (13) Quotes (39) Recruitment (13) Religion (24) Self-Control (11) Self-Defense (48) Site News (10) Sparring (19) State of Mind (29) Style (17) Success (18) Technique (28) Training (111) Video (49) Weapons (13) Zen (26)
That is beautiful, and so true. I have long known this, but sometime it is so hard to put into practice. It was just what I needed to hear, thanks.
That is beautiful, and so true. I have long known this, but sometime it is so hard to put into practice. It was just what I needed to hear, thanks.