There are times in life, when it’s very reminiscent of being on a narrowboat, when the main object of each day is to get closer to an overall destination without rocking the boat. Steering the middle way, taking no risks, trying to get to the other end without making waves or upsetting the people you pass along the way.
When you find yourself in situations where the only outcomes you can actually influence are all negative, you find yourself trying to switch off from the effects these situations are having on you. Find yourself trying to create distractions with unrelated things, which will have no bearing on the final outcome.
And this can be so very tiring. Like sitting in a room with no windows, no books, nothing to occupy your mind. Time passes so slowly. As a boy, I would sit on a lake or river bank from the first light of dawn, till the last rays of sunset, fishing for elusive creatures that sometimes never showed themselves.
I was never bored, I was so engrossed that there were times that I forgot to eat my packed lunch. Those summer, and often winter, days flew by even when the trials and tribulations of my teenage years were buzzing around my head. Concentrating on that fluorescent float tip, bright against the dark, slow moving waters, held my attention like nothing else could.
I don’t get to do much fishing these days, I have reservations about the cruelty of the sport, and being a Buddhist means I can’t really ignore that with a clean conscience. But I do have my Practice, my chanting and my prayer which are just as enthralling and can hold my attention even better than my piscatorial past.
So I’m moving ever closer to my goal of enlightenment through my daily practice. Being able to see the bigger picture means that I can actually measure the progress. It also means that these awkward situations are there in the background, and although I never ignore or forget about them, that my boat is a little steadier each day.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
You may have gathered that the last few days and weeks have been a little challenging for me. It’s been a little difficult at work, though I’m happy to say that we seem to have worked through that.
There are challenges in life, each and every day. Some are simple and demand little or no self discipline on our part. Others are much more taxing, maybe even painful in nature, and require all our wisdom, courage and compassion in order to deal with them.
We all have choices to make in life. Everything from whether to take tea or coffee to the major life-changing decisions regarding money, relationships, children and careers. Whatever the choice you have to make, make it with wisdom, courage and compassion.
Having the strength to take on the challenges of everyday life is not always easy. Chanting my heart out does it for me, as we’ve discussed before, but this quote from Daisaku Ikeda sums up the reality of the situation very nicely …
There are situations and challenges in life, when the almost overwhelming tendency is to look inwards, to examine repeatedly, the reasons and causes that have brought us to this point in time.
If you ride a bike on the roads around Britain you’ll know how lovely it is to find yourself on a stretch of nice new smooth tarmac. The lumps and bumps of our older repaired roads really can rattle your bones, so the new surface is a real treat.
Dealing with the ever changing aspects of life is a little like sailing a yacht in a squally breeze. There are external influences that push and pull on the direction of our path. Our role as skipper of our own craft, is to deal with the challenges that those influences bring, whilst trying to steer in the direction we want our lives to go.
When life is feeling like swimming in treacle, the only key to success is to draw on your own determination. Sometimes things don’t go the way you wish and that can be for a number of reasons. But if you can remain calm, suppress your frustrations and stay focused, things will change.
When I sit down to write my blog, I try to relate the circumstances surrounding a particular lesson I have learned that day. Quite often the post has been rattling around in my head and it is my job to just put it into some kind of format for general consumption.
The Search For Enlightenment 
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