Never Be Discouraged
Dear friends,
Almost all of us get discouraged at some point in life. No matter how hard we try, sometimes multiple things are just not working. Everything I do lately has blown up in my face; I try to be as kind as possible but somehow everyone is mad at me; my relationships always fail. The list of possible hope-removers is long.
But as with every aspect of life, the trouble is really in our heads and not in the unfortunate circumstances we are facing. When learning to ski, people always fall down. It would be easy to ask why gravity has to be so relentless. Why snow has to be slippery. How unfair it is that when I did that maneuver a minute ago it worked, but this time I took a spill.
Being discouraged has a few components to it. One is that we have most often selected the wrong target. We are not here to accomplish things, have lots of friends, or better our personal circumstances. We are here to find that joy that resides deep within. And that can only happen slowly over time as we purify our own consciousness. The purification process can be quite uncomfortable, but Spirit knows what it is doing (even if we don’t!). Or perhaps we are discouraged merely because some other goal we have selected is repeatedly unattained.
But what if our discouragement is related to our pursuit of self-improvement itself? People tend to over-examine things. Imagine a farmer who plants a seed and digs it up every few hours to see how it's doing! Not the best strategy. And easy for the farmer to become discouraged, feeling that “nothing is happening! I have watered it, fertilized it, and done everything else necessary. What’s the deal?!”
The Sanskrit word for the major delusion that clouds our minds is “maya.” It is also the word for “measurer.” Interesting. We are always measuring how things should be, how we wish they were, how far we have come or not come, how much better things would be if only… another almost endless list. And that does not even mention comparing oneself to others.
There is no cause for feeling discouraged. The game of life is one we are absolutely guaranteed, without fail, to win in the end. We are in the middle of a very long incarnation process. Feeling discouraged in third grade because we do not yet understand particle physics just shows a misunderstanding of how this school works. We will get there.
One of my favorite lines of a chant, based on a saying from one of Yogananda’s greatest disciples is, “Patient endurance brings you to victory. Once you have God you’ll want nothing more.”
Don't ever forget that we will win this game and are merely in the middle of a very long process. Patience, endurance, positive attitude, and letting the seed grow in its own time, will ensure both steady progress and ultimate victory. The road is a long and winding one, and it thus sometimes appears that we are moving backwards. We are not. May we each find the inner strength to remain open and confident in the process despite apparent setbacks and obstacles. Spirit knows what it is doing. May we also find the faith to trust the process which has unerringly been going on since life was created. Temporary setbacks are just that. Temporary.
Blessings,
David G, manager
For the gang at East West