Going along.....

     Stumbled across this great quote online tonight that fits in with stuff I've been thinking about:
"Life is easy, life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings." The quote was attributed to Anthony de Mello in an article entitled How to Find Happiness that was on lifeoptimizer.com. I understand this and wholeheartedly agree but it is very difficult to apply. From my limited understanding the whole Buddhist mindset is based on the idea that letting go of your expectations and desires is the path. I think most of us realize it too but struggle to put it into practice.
     I accepted a long time ago that there are peaks and valleys to life. The problem I seem to be having now is that I constantly raise the bar on what I consider the peaks or the valleys. I'm rolling along and life is going just fine. However I have a couple of minor irritations in my life and I consider it a valley. Reminds me of a quote I read recently from JLo:
"As human beings we have a tendency to focus on the negative.....You can have all this wonderful stuff and this one little thing is going wrong and we tend to focus on that. It's not about that. It's about being grateful."
     A friend is a great believer in the Tao. Here is a passage that sums it up

 Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

I don't wholeheartedly embrace the concept but it definitely has it's place. Here is another great quote from the same article:
"If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth." I think I need to spend some time focusing on going along and letting go of control.....