We must
always be happy. And apparently we are not because the world around us keeps on
telling us we must always go on buying the newest of the newest things to be
happier. Even for instance the Dutch magazine “Happinez” for over 50% is full
of advertisements of things you need to have to get happier. Our lives are focused
on happiness and when we are happy, life around us is not happy with that. Last
April 28th I already wrote a blog about it. Happiness is not very goodfor the economy. We need to go ‘mountain up’ and even to stand still on a top
of a hill for a while to enjoy or celebrate our success does not seem to be good.
Isn’t it more
than normal that we leave the valley when we walk up to a top of the hill and
need a to go back or further to reach a valley again as a start for the next,
maybe even higher mountain peak?
Nature
helps us to understand this. Out of the four seasons there is a lot to learn about
how to accept life and today I want to explore the example of a lotus flower a
bit deeper.
Without
mud there is no, or cannot be a, beautiful lotus to flourish.
Mud in
Buddhism is connected with our world of worrying and suffering. That mud is
essential to germinate the lotus seed. The roots go deep into the mud. From
that mud, all the experiences in your life, the young plant grows. If the lotus
but reaches the water surface, the small but - still closed - fantastic flower grows higher on a thin and
super strong stem to get a kind of ‘helicopter view position’ above the water
surface.
The water
surface teaches us that emotions need their own time to calm down. A process
you cannot force. If there is a storm, the water surface starts moving and the
water becomes muddy. The lotus stays strong and present and only moves with the
wind around it’s balance point (the roots in the mud). And after the storm it
takes a while until the water is smooth as a mirror again. However ... not yet
crystal clear. The mud and dust in the water caused by the wind stirring the
shallow spots at the banks of the water, is still not clear and you cannot
force this process either. Only by giving the process its own time the water will
not only become smooth as a mirror but also crystal clear.
And only
then can you see everything in relation to what caused that emotion clearly and
without judgment. Giving you the possibility to learn about it.
High
above the water opens at its own right natural time, and also you cannot force
that time, the lotus to show itself in majesty. No effort. Just the way he or
she is. Showing his or her self, no matter what the world thinks about it. Just
being available. And after a day or two, that beauty becomes less. The petals
fall into the water to serve as fertilizer for the mud for the new generations
to come. Giving back. And after a while the new seeds, produced in the flower,
drop into the mud again and the process begins from the beginning. The life
cycle, (Cycle of Samsara).
Another possible
discovery is that water does not adhere to the leaves of a lotus plant. Water
forms pearls and by wind or gravity, again no effort, it rolls off the leaf.
And therefore, the leaf is not disturbed by anything that happens around him or
her.
Mud is
needed to share 'only' your uniqueness, that, what and who you are. Learning
from the past, being present in the now, and taking steps into the future. And
that process, that cycle, involves various steps like change / transformation,
taking, growing, flourishing, giving, growth.
Be aware
of this ongoing learning process in which you cannot always shine and be happy.
Do not
force yourself. Just be aware of going up and down as the natural movement
called living. And do not forget... happiness depends on our mental attitude and not on external conditions.
Without mud no lotus.
Without mud no lotus.
Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight
Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life, love, family, business, career and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or organization.”
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