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A Buddhist Approach to Resilience
Do you want to be more at ease with whatever comes?
How did you feel the last time your lawnmower broke down?
What about when you were stuck in rush-hour traffic, late for an appointment?
Or, when your flight was delayed and that meant you’d miss your connection?
Did you immediately look for someone to blame? Did you want to scream at the top of your lungs? Did you let fly all the four-letter expletives that came to mind?
Did you ask, Why me? Why now?
Everyone gets upset when things don’t go their way. This is normal. But, don’t we also know something must go wrong eventually?
I mean, don’t we know that someone’s lawnmower will break down today? Don’t we know that someone will be late because of traffic today? Don’t we know that someone will miss a connection because of a delayed flight today?
Of course we know this, and yet it’s unthinkable that they should happen to us.
So, when they do inevitably happen, we can’t believe our misfortune. We stomp around, furious, like a four-year-old who’s just been denied a second Oreo.
What’s going on here?
Buddhism offers an explanation for this kind of unpleasantness and, thankfully, a cure.
