That Which Forces the Lotus’ Bloom.

An American journalist who had been following Gandhi’s work for years, once asked, “Can you tell me the secret of your life in three words?”

Not being able to resist the challenge, Gandhi smiled and offered, “Yes…Renounce and enjoy!”

Such a simple proposition, yes? And, yet? How often do we allow ourselves to get whisked away, our minds falling into that precipice of ‘wishing to leave it all behind’?

We struggle within our day to day. Whether by way of self-imposed tasking, or more simply — traffic that’s never ending, one thing is clear:

My goodness, we need a break.

And so, we sit upon our ‘meditation cushion’ — wondering why our lives seem never changing.

It brought to mind Thich Nhat Hanh’s training on mindful consumption:

“Many of us think that happiness comes from consuming something, from bringing something from outside into us, but in fact, happiness comes from inside. When we can remove the materials of anger, violence, hatred, and despair from our souls, then happiness will open like a lotus flower, or like a rose. The happiness of a flower does not come from outside, the happiness of a flower comes from inside the flower, and our happiness is the same.”

So often we think of happiness as an external condition. That is to say, ‘if only’ we could change just this one thing – then, we could truly be happy.

But, happiness is never external to self, my friends — rather, it is a mind state which nourishes the soul. When we are able to interact mindfully with our surroundings, to create the conditions by which we may manifest positive intentions throughout –my darlings, that is when we will finally know the energy of a true and lasting peace.

Though, in order to nurture these roots of happiness, to find clarity of purpose — we must be willing to let it all go. To relinquish those things which keep us so foolishly tethered.

“The Buddha said that it’s greed, not anger, that keeps us on the wheel.” shares Tenzin Palmo. “Nobody’s chaining us down: we’re clinging on with both hands…We have to cultivate contentment with what we have. We really don’t need much. When you know this, the mind settles down. Cultivate generosity. Delight in giving. Learn to live lightly. In this way, we can begin to transform what is negative into what is positive.”

My darlings, this is how we learn to grow. Much like the Lotus flower, our happiness is formed from within.

A little something to consider on this day, my friends ~ a reflection on that which forces the Lotus’ bloom.

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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