Solutions
to Change
“Every
great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces
us to change our thinking in order to find it.”
Niels
Bohr
Sometimes
life hands us trouble there is no getting around, no fleeing from, no
fixing. Our task is to accept the circumstances and do the best we
can. Most of the time, we humans are able to accommodate hardships
that we never imagined we could. When our choices are limited,
choosing is easier—and then we go about the business of learning a
new way of being in the world.
Two
friends of mine are facing challenges they cannot outrun. One is
losing her eyesight, and one is mentally ill and, at the moment, is
hospitalized. I woke this morning with both of them rooted in my
mind, solid river rocks. I wish, as any friend would, that there was
something I could do to make their tasks easier.
We
want life to be different, don't we? Less difficult. Less filled with
sadness. But this is the life we are given—ten thousand joys, ten
thousand sorrows, just as the Buddha said. So, all we can do is do
what we can. As a friend, I can stay in touch, not in a clingy way,
but in a way that lets them know I'm thinking about them. I can help
out—by cooking a meal, by taking them for appointments, by offering
my assistance to their care-givers. I can express to them how much
they mean to me. No one hears that often enough.
My
friends will bear their hardships, and make whatever adjustments are
necessary to live. The solution is that simple, and that dfficult.
And I will watch and pray and do what I can. We will change our
thinking about what it means to be alive, and what it means to be a
friend.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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