Ordinary Life

Even though I am often at a loss for things to write about, I enjoy writing these daily thoughts. They are a good discipline for me and a great release for my ever active mind. Some people think I have the answers for everything but I don't. I am mostly full of questions. I'm really just an ordinary and average guy. I think my gift is the ability to articulate feelings that many ordinary people have. My life and my struggles are like the lives and struggles of many other people. When people read my daily thoughts they find comfort that another person feels like they do. My life does have some variety in it but it is certainly not exciting. If I wasn't able to find meaning in the ordinary events of my daily life I would probably think I have a very dull life. It would be easy to think that life is nothing more than a cycle of working and sleeping with little else in the mix. In my experience of life, happiness and meaning do not usually knock down the door of your life. Like most good things, you have to work for them and make them happen. In many ways I am a passive person but I believe I am usually assertive and proactive when it comes to finding happiness and meaning in my life. Hopefully we are all sometimes blessed with unexpected happiness and joy. Life is not all pain and struggle and I disagree a little with the Buddha when he says that all life is suffering. I don't understand the physiology of it but I read that our minds will automatically revert to negative thoughts if we don't intentionally think positive thoughts. Admittedly, sometimes I get weary of the more mundane aspects of daily living. Most people probably feel that way. We all have to do what we need to do in order to take care of ourselves and our families. It's not always exciting. That's why I think it is so important to be spiritually awake. We must always be awake and alert for the surprises of life and the deeper meaning that is often just below the surface of our daily lives. Everyone's heard the saying that "I can't see the forest for the trees"! In this case I think the "trees" are all the daily challenges and problems that we all have. We often let these things block our vision and then we can't see the "forest" which represents the beauty of life.