New Year's Thoughts
It's good to hope for a happy new year where you and your loved ones get everything they wish for. Personally I am hoping to travel more this year and possibly buy a house. On the other hand, dharma practice is largely about being ok even when you don't get what you want. And to be certain, no one gets everything they want all of the time. Much of our suffering comes from feeling like the world has to be a certain way instead of meeting it as-it-is and going from there.
There's a koan in the Book of Serenity that asks: How do you walk a straight path on a mountain road with 100 curves? One possible response is that when the road turns left, you go left. When the road turns right, you go right. Trying to walk straight from the outset will only take you off the road, and possibly down the mountain side.
So in this new year I hope we can all meet the road as it is, and hope it doesn't throw us too many curves.
