Did anybody say something to change your life?

[watersprite]

On the Inside Inert = peace. At least to me. As ChrisC1983 has said, someone can say something that gets through all the way. Some conversations on AC have made me aware of my self, a very few real life people have made me decide to take action, to change direction or jump track altogether.

Yes, I can and do keep awareness of how I am behaving, though 10 or 15 minutes of conversation with a stranger is a self imposed limit. "Leaving myself out" also of course left out assessments of the situation from my point of view, or rather, based on my wants, needs and plans. While this kept me safer in the moment, it also leads to mistakes and problems in the future.

(For example, it takes so much of my brain just to get through a doctor appointment, that when the check-out lady asks if I need a follow up, I think that I think for a moment and say no even though the doc just told me to make a follow up date. Embarassing, because the doc knows about me, so she says, "she needs a follow up.")

 

[On the Inside]

Inert = peace

I like that equation. It tells me that true peace is neither effected by outside disturbance, nor causes disturbance itself. To remain still.

It reminds me of a passage in a book, I've had to look it up.


So the practice is to simply let life be. This is not passivity or pseudo-detachment. We still need the discipline to stay present, to remain still. The discipline is to choose in each moment not to spin off, to choose to be precise in our labeling and in our self-observation. We can practice this way both on and off the meditation cushion. The open mind that is willing to look at whatever arises- that wants simply to know, to be with, to reside in the reality of the moment- is always accessible to us.

Being Zen, Ezra Bayda.

But this confuses me a bit, because in my usual state, I feel I am being precise in my labeling, in my self observation, yet I still feel so detached, unfulfilled, as if those encounters, or much of my experience wasn't part of reality, or failed to give me what I needed. Perhaps I've been doing it wrong, what I thought of as precise labeling was off base, my self observation too reliant on a faulty self concept.

Thinking further about the OP, I would like to say that I have read a lot of things that changed my life in some way, but I'm not sure I've really been changed in any substantial way, at least not all at once. But then, long ago I decided that my life was not one of radical change, of transformation, but one of gradual evolution. In that sense, nearly everything one encounters/experiences can have some effect on the trajectory of one's life.

 

[ChrisC1983]

actually that sounds like a lot of fun. i used to love the museum of science near me. i even had all of the exhibits memorized at 1 point. i wish i got to make more stuff but on a 3rd floor apartment of a 6 family house, legos was about the extent of what i could play with

not to sound all chinese proverbish.. but.. the journey is more important than the destination.

 

[Hedgehog Instigator]

Chris a complete stranger asked me if I was an artist, I replied "I try to be."
His response was, "the moment you stop trying is the moment you no longer are."
This was a profound statement to me about being present, and being determined. You are what you challenge yourself with. So keep challenging yourself and doing give up.

 

[Alex Dame]

I think one thing that really changed my life was when I was working at Peninsula Works taking apart computers, and I talked about how much I hated the job, and I let it slip that I never went to college. A coworker said to me: "That's probably why you can't get a better job than this." I hated to hear that, and was very frustrated at the time, but I really think that was the extra push I needed to go to college and try and get a degree (Which I'm still in the process of getting).