Life’s road is studded with rocks. So what does one do with the rocks on the road? The traveler stumbles on them constantly, hurts his feet and is left bleeding. The rocks are there, at every turn, at every corner, waiting for ambush. What are you going to do with them?
On excursion day, it dawned with an overcast sky and it started to rain; while on the way the engine stalled; the neighbors put on strident music; the plane was five hours late; hail ruined the crops; I wanted to tell the truth but they took offense; it was a boring conference and it didn’t seem to end; six months and no rain; the traffic has ground to a stop and nerves are on end; our team threw an important deciding match; the parents are on the point of separation; the boss in the office is unbearable; frost has completely annihilated this year’s harvest; we had an obnoxious passenger throughout the trip; we were stuck at the long waiting lines; inflation has burst and our economy is in shambles; the heat is simply suffocating; your brother has mortgaged his home; the river has inundated our fields; they have kidnapped my best friend; we were involved in a traffic accident; he had a performance today and lost his voice on waking …
These are examples of the thousands of rocks strewn on the road. How would you maintain calm in the midst of so many agents of doom that attack from every side? What do you have to do to escape unharmed from such aggression? How would you transform these rocks into friends or family members?
The golden rule is this: let things be as they are. Since there is nothing that we can do and in any case, these rocks will surely be present on the way, common sense counsels accepting everything calmly, even with sweetness.
Feel no irritation simply because the other is like that. Accept the fact that things are as they are. Relax your tension. Serenely concentrate on the hurting incident that is happening beside you and which you have no power to change. Instead of feeling irritation, consciously and calmly, even sweetly, allow it to be what it is. Let it rain, let it be hot or cold, let the river overflow its banks, let the frost threaten the harvest, let your neighbor be obnoxious, or let inflation happen….
Your attempts at a solution ended miserably, do not feel irritation; it has passed already, let it be. Let the plane arrive late or the traffic be at a standstill: they are the rocks on the road. Do not resist, do not be annoyed and kick about in anger. You only bring on suffering by doing so.
Do not let loose furious charges against disturbing events around you; the target of such fury is none other than yourself, and only yourself.
Deal delicately with these rocks, accepting them as they are. Your rage is not going to soften them; in fact, it makes them more intolerable. Put aside your anger, be sweet and pleasant with them. This is the only means to make them harmless. Accept them harmoniously, with your entire mind, with tenderness, not because of fatalism. Furthermore, if you cannot assume them, and cannot carry them tenderly upon your shoulders, at least leave them behind the way as friends.
Taken from the book The Art of Being Happy by F. Ignacio Larrañaga.
