Sundays With Buddha

It is you who must make the effort. Masters only point the way.

                         
                                                                                          --Buddha


Week 52

Well, here we are...week 52. After everything that we have learned together over this past year of exploring these teachings of Guatama Buddha, the biggest lesson is this: it is all up to you. You will meet teachers along the way, in many capacities. A teacher is anyone you have learned a valuable lesson from, be it a small child who shows you the world through their eyes, an animal you have grown to love, or a seasoned Master that passes down centuries of teachings. You can be given questions to ponder and philosophies to meditate upon, but it is you who must decide to use it, the Master/Teacher can only point you in the right direction. You must make all of the decisions for yourself and it is you, and only you, who can do the work.

Only you will know what's right for you and when. You can listen to and take heed in the advice of others, consider the blessings in it, follow it or don't; those are still your decisions to make. And we must remember to do these things for the betterment of our well being, not just to please another, not even our loved ones. We may also grow to love our teachers, but we cannot live to please anyone but ourselves. Try to live to spread happiness and joy, yes, but solely to please everyone else...happiness surely cannot arise from this. And true happiness cannot arise from letting someone else handle our responsibilities, either. Only through our own tangible experiences, and our own strong efforts, can happiness abound.


I want to thank all of you for participating in my year long journey to find and follow the advice in the wisdom of the Buddha. I learned so many valuable lessons, and now I have a journal filled with advice to myself that I can refer to for life. My experiences may change, my views may change, but that is the beauty of life itself. Evolution. If we all continue to evolve into better people...it means we're doing it right.


The great lesson I learned for myself this past year is that I don't know it all, and I am happy with learning. I have learned to open my eyes and see the lessons laid out before me. I notice the synchronicities that are provided to me, and I can pay attention more easily. I have learned a lot, and I have yet a lot to learn. It was difficult, at times, to stick with the program and finish on time. I made a few mistakes, was forgetful (and a little lazy), but I am ok with that. I learned that the way I am is not perfect, but I am perfect just the way I am. That is all a wonderful thing, because I am open to learning, accepting, growing, forgiving.


Thank you for being a part of that.


Until next time...


Namaste

Nanette