Complaints

Have you ever complained about life, or heard others complaining?

I guess complaint is really common in our lives — we tend to complain on things we don’t like. We push away things we don’t like. It’s natural.

But when you listen to others’ complaints constantly… what you feel? You start to complain about the complaints! Yeah…. inevitable, ya?

I listened to this talk by Ajahn Brahm, it is an eye-opener. Well, we are living in a conditioned environment, as the nature itself is conditioned. So yeah, so many conditions interplay in our lives, and sometimes most of them are beyond our control. Yet for example, when we don’t like the job we are doing as a clerk, for example, we think that I’d be happy if I change my job to become a retailer. Indeed you’ll get rid off your suffering as a clerk, but you would have another form of suffering, the suffering of a retailer.

Then if we think that way, regardless of what conditions and environment we are in, we would still have suffering, only in different forms.

So all in all, what really matters is our attitude. What should we do in that situation, are we being negative or positive about it? Some outward conditions (i.e., conditions surround you) are hard to change — in other words, it’s hard to change others and the world. But it is easier and doable to change yourself, the conditions within.

So next time, when you face difficulties in your life, instead of blaming and complaining others or your environment, pause for awhile, and look within. See what you can do about in that situation or conditions, and think what’s the best attitude within you that you can have. There is a wise saying “The world is seen through your own specs”. So when you put on positive specs, you would see life is more positive. And vice versa. So it’s your choice…. complaining or living along with it.

The Mind

Everything in life is impermanent. If you look closely, you would see what I mean. Have you ever felt happy 24/7, or have you ever felt sad 24/7? Well, even though you’re depressed, there are some (maybe fleeting) moments that you don’t feel low– maybe neutral or happy.

Yeah, nothing stays for forever.

But when we are down or low, it feels like it’s going to stay there for forever. We think that it’s hard to get out of this emotion. Maybe it is hard for some people, but in general, I guess it’s possible to get out of it. It all happens in the mind. When you see your mind closely, you can see why you’re feeling down/low — maybe you need practice on this, and I’m still not that skillful yet to know exactly what’s happening in my mind, but I’m getting more aware of what’s happening there. So it means that it’s possible to be aware of your mind — your thoughts and feelings came not out of nowhere, there is a cause of it. Once you see what the cause is, you know how to deal with it.

I believe we all have a choice in life. It may take courage to listen to your heart, but it doesn’t mean we are restricted to only one choice. There are many choices in our lives, so decide it with your wisdom. Wisdom plays an important role in our lives. Without wisdom, we’re going to make a lot of silly decisions.