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Wed Apr 28 06:00:01 EDT 2021
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Slept from ten-thirty to seven-thirty.
Woke around four-thirty, and slept only fitfully after.
Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Highs in the mid 70s.
Northwest winds 5 to 20 mph.
Work
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- SpamAssassin filter for From "hartman"?
Done.
- follow up on VS laptop shipment
Done.
- Entrata cache database
Done.
Half-hour walk at lunch.
Partly sunny, breezy, and a little humid.
Cherry, crabapple, and dogwood trees in bloom.
Home
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- refill prescription
Done.
https://theapeiron.co.uk/what-the-buddhist-being-doing-balance-is-and-why-it-matters-for-happiness-3754394cda82
> If you have worked for any length of time, then you have probably fallen into the work-life balance trap. That’s where you find your living overwhelmed by the demands of work.
>
> Buddhism would have us consider another balancing problem, one that might be even more fundamental: the being-doing balance. Let me explain.
>
> The Buddhist noble eight-fold path to happiness requires that you follow the path of Right Diligence. What this means, surprisingly, is that you should not be working on your progress all the time. Thich Nhat Hanh, the duly renowned Zen Buddhist teacher, relates the point memorably in a story as follows.
>
> > “There was a monk in the Tang Dynasty of China who was practicing sitting meditation very hard, day and night. He thought he was practicing harder than anyone else, and he was very proud of this. He sat like a rock day and night, but his suffering was not transformed.
> >
> > One day a teacher asked him, “Why are you sitting so hard?” and the monk replied, “To become a Buddha!” The teacher picked up a tile and began polishing it, and the monk asked, “Teacher, what are you doing?” His master replied, “I am making a mirror.” The monk asked, “How can you make a tile into a mirror?” and his teacher replied, “How can you become a Buddha by sitting?” (The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, 99–100).
>
> The point of the story is as simple as it is counter-intuitive: inaction advances you on the path of happiness as much as action.
>
> Sometimes not doing is the only way forward. Instead of more effort, you need to try just being, just acting without purpose, goal, or intention.
>
> The point is counter-intuitive, at least for those of us in the “West,” because our discussions about balance turn on two different types of doing. At work, we do things for our financial gain, while in our personal lives, we do the things we call “play,” from our hobbies to our family engagements.
>
> We don’t have conceptual space for mere being.
Servings: grains 5/6, fruit 1/4, vegetables 2/4, dairy 2/2, meat 2/3, nuts 0/0.5
Brunch: banana, broccoli, coffee
Lunch: cucumber, two hot dogs
Dinner: cheese curls
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