Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye. A few years ago, I gave a TED Talk in which I spoke about society's growing sense of entitlement, and how imperative it is for us to define what "enough" means or we will never have it. We will always want more if we don't determine what enough means to us.
But I didn't realize at the time that the entitlement epidemic isn't only affecting the new generation, we are all infected. Now, our addiction to "more" may not be for more stuff around the house or more money in the bank, it may be a silent yet persistent feeling that there should be more to life. This leaves us unsatisfied with the life we have regardless of how much is in it. Every spiritual tradition tells us how important it is to practice gratitude.
We know that grateful people are happy people, yet many of us don't fully appreciate, and sometimes even take for granted, the roof over our heads or food in our stomachs, for example, but that's probably because we've never had to go without. I'm reminded of a Zen story about a student who complained to his teacher
that focusing on the breath during meditation was boring. So the teacher submerged the student's head underwater until the student started kicking and struggling to come up for air, at which point the master released his grip, looked the student in the eye, and asked, "Do you still think the breath is boring?" Can we train ourselves and maybe even others to appreciate everything in our lives
without having to go without it for a while? It would take shifting our perspective from feeling entitled to the time we have on this earth, to seeing time as a gift from a mysterious stranger. The reason I suggest considering our time a gift is because we wouldn't need to learn anything new to practice this; we are already familiar with the feeling of gratitude when someone gives us a present. But what happens when you receive a gift you don't particularly like?
Or better yet, how would you respond if your car breaks down during a very difficult time in your life -financially and otherwise- leaving you with no way to get to work, and someone offers you a free bicycle so you don't lose your job? Would you be grateful for the bicycle? What if it's not a brand new bike? What if it's old and rusty without any gears?
Would you turn down this generous offer because it isn't up to your standards, or would you be extremely grateful for the possibilities that this less-than-perfect solution represents? Now, think of the lifetime we are given. It is often like that rusty bike. It is painful, challenging, and uncomfortable, but it's free time nonetheless. If we look at everything as a gift, then a rusty bike and a new car are equally valuable.
Just think about that word: Valuable. It means the Value is found in moving forward, not in the form of transportation, whether you're given a bus pass, a skateboard, or to use your own two feet if you're fortunate enough to have them, and mindful enough to appreciate them. I know this practice goes beyond seeing the glass as half-full or half-empty, it's about being grateful to have a glass in the first place.
You see, the antidote to our sense of entitlement is gratitude, and I truly believe we can learn to appreciate the difficult times in our lives just as much, if not more than, smooth sailing. And we don't need a near-death experience to appreciate our lives, do we? After considering each moment a gift, we would stop wasting time, and we would certainly stop thinking of ways to kill it.
So, your challenge for today is to not only think of everything for which you are grateful, but contemplate why you are grateful for it and how it affects your life. Marinate in that feeling of gratitude until it comes out of your pores in the form of a smile, kindness, and generosity.
I know this episode isn't my usual invitation to examine how we create our own suffering, it's a reminder to be thankful for the good, the bad, and the most horrific times in our lives, because we cannot love ourselves -truly love ourselves- if we still hate or resent the very experiences that shaped us. All of them. Much of the anguish in our lives is not necessarily caused by something in it,
but because of the absence of something. In this case, gratitude. Be grateful for the good times and the bad times, for every single breath, or go ahead and stick your head underwater if you need a reminder. Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Faithfully Religionless and Buddhist Boot Camp.
For additional information, please visit BuddhistBootCamp.com, where you can order autographed books to support the Prison Library Project, watch Timber's inspiring TED Talk, and join our monthly mailing list. We hope you have enjoyed this episode, and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions. Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. 🙏🏼