Bend A Little

With so many spectacular colors in the world, it's a shame to make everything black and white!

The Buddists teach us to be like bamboo. It is strong on the outside, soft on the inside. It's roots are firmly planted in the ground and freely interwined with its enviroment for strength and support. The stalk blows freely in the wind but bends rather than breaks.

That which bends is far more difficult to break.

And that, dear friends, is the thought of the day.

Sometimes, the frustrations of the day seem to batter us and our natural inclination is to fight back. But we need to learn to roll with the problems and wrestle with them insead of trying to stand toe to toe with them.

Things are never all good or all bad. Everything has a high and a low spot. Our lives should be lived in a way that we can strive to see all points of view and decide how to take the path that leads to the most desirable end, realizing all the while that sometimes we just can't win every single time.

So today, I'm just going to watch the river flow by and try to guess when to jump in.

I'll let you know how it turns out.