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This story brought chills, tears and hope. My son is 26 and he told his girlfriend he does not want her to rush around all over town to buy Christmas gifts for him and he no longer wishes to go to her family home because the pressure of these gifts is more disturbing to him than the joy of being with loved ones just because we enjoy being with them. I do not say I agree with his viewpoint, although there were many winters when I have agreed with it. There are many sides to giving and to a gift. To have a wise grandfather take the care and attention to helping his granddaughter experience how life works through attending to a watering dirt is a precious gift that I have now received from this author.

Namaste.
joseph

I am reminded of The Man Who Planted Trees. In apparent total devastation and chaos, a simple shepherd who lost his wife and only child to the war begins gathering acorns to plant oak trees. Ten years later, he plants other trees. Ten years after that, a forest has developed, streams and rivers return, the empty village begins to return. The I-Ching calls it the Turning Point. "After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that was banished returns. There is movement but it is not brought about by force. The upper trigram K'un is characterized by devotion; thus the movement is natural, arising spontaneously. For this reason, the transformation of the old is discarded and the new is introduced....Societies of people sharing the same views are formed. But since these groups come together in full public knowledge and are in harmony with the time, all selfish separatist tendencies are excluded and no mistake is made. The idea of a RETURN is based on the course of nature. The movement is cyclic..., therefore, there is no need to hasten anything artificially. Everything comes of itself at the appointed time. This is the meaning of heaven and earth." Sixteen years ago, my wife and the mother of our four children died. The children were 3, 8, 11 and 13. I was devastated and broken in so many ways that it is hard for me to remember this state of being. My brother sent me to the mountains to be alone while his family watched my children. I crossed the river, and climbed up the mountain in the middle of a creek with shorts and boots in freezing snowmelt water. I climbed straight up the mountain for a mile until my body collapsed in the gravel within a small pool of water near a small waterfall and in my mind I screamed at God, "I did not ask for this," and his echo reverberated back in the hinterland of my consciousness, "Yes you did." When I returned to my children, I remembered what my mentor said: "It is impossibl... [View Full Comment] I am reminded of The Man Who Planted Trees. In apparent total devastation and chaos, a simple shepherd who lost his wife and only child to the war begins gathering acorns to plant oak trees. Ten years later, he plants other trees. Ten years after that, a forest has developed, streams and rivers return, the empty village begins to return. The I-Ching calls it the Turning Point. "After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that was banished returns. There is movement but it is not brought about by force. The upper trigram K'un is characterized by devotion; thus the movement is natural, arising spontaneously. For this reason, the transformation of the old is discarded and the new is introduced....Societies of people sharing the same views are formed. But since these groups come together in full public knowledge and are in harmony with the time, all selfish separatist tendencies are excluded and no mistake is made. The idea of a RETURN is based on the course of nature. The movement is cyclic..., therefore, there is no need to hasten anything artificially. Everything comes of itself at the appointed time. This is the meaning of heaven and earth."

Sixteen years ago, my wife and the mother of our four children died. The children were 3, 8, 11 and 13. I was devastated and broken in so many ways that it is hard for me to remember this state of being. My brother sent me to the mountains to be alone while his family watched my children. I crossed the river, and climbed up the mountain in the middle of a creek with shorts and boots in freezing snowmelt water. I climbed straight up the mountain for a mile until my body collapsed in the gravel within a small pool of water near a small waterfall and in my mind I screamed at God, "I did not ask for this," and his echo reverberated back in the hinterland of my consciousness, "Yes you did."

When I returned to my children, I remembered what my mentor said: "It is impossible to feel sad, angry or depressed when we are truly thankful." So, I went to the seashore and began a "thank you" letter to my wife. "Thank you for knitting me this beautiful sweater." "Thank you for making us such healthy delicious food." "Thank you...." Fifteen pages later, my cup was overflowing with gratitude and thankfulness and I knew it that moment that I had been given a gift of such love for 17 years of my life that it was my OBLIGATION to give that back, even if I had to give it back to those others who were not the person who gave her love and life for me.[Hide Full Comment]

Thank you for sharing, Larry. I think the word imperfection is a good place to begin, and the location of imperfection that leads to disillusionment. Sometimes, it means making a slight adjustment in where our attentions are focused. For example, I spend almost zero percent of my attention on social media, with the exception of sites such as this where the focus is positively directed. It means eliminating watching and reading over and over again the same news cycles that are designed to trigger such reactions as you have. I like to remind myself of the Buddha's facial expression where he sees all but is bothered by nothing because he understands something deeper.

There are only a few places I like to focus my attention: reading books that I choose for the content they provide that stimulates consciousness I wish to replicate. Daily walks in nature, even if in the evening around the block under the open sky because nature is the only place where "imperfection" dissolves since nature holds no imperfection. A study of nature and the writing of nature haiku will train the mind to follow and focus on those perfect areas of the natural world we depend upon so much for sanity in a world whereour disconnect from nature creates the opposite too often.

Namaste

 The story comparing Arjuna and Karna is perfect.  I love it because it is all of us.  I cannot count the times in my life that I have gotten caught in the "greatness of my giving," emphasis on "my."  How perfect an example to model: giving without thought, then, moving on into the next moment.  One of my personalities is "the teacher," so, too often I find myself getting absorbed in the desire of sharing my wisdom.  I am in a new relationship with a woman who is so unattached to her instinctual wisdom, her words are always just her opinion with no desire to do anything other than 
"utter the truth."  She never tries to instruct, and because of this, she becomes, like Karna, the best giver of all of us.