It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness

by Sylvia Boorstein

And yet everyone said some variation of “I’m pretty much all right” or “I’m pretty content.” And it didn’t mean that they weren’t struggling with what was happening to them. It did not mean that they had transcended their stories and that they were fine because they felt no pain from them. They were struggling and often in quite a lot of pain and concern, but still, they were all right. I thought to myself as I looked around, “What we’re all doing is we’re all managing gracefully.”

In it, he said about his life, “I would have wanted more, but I never wanted other!” I thought it would be marvelous to live my life that way, wanting more as a response to appreciating life, but never wanting “other.”

Right Understanding means feeling terrible, remembering pain is finite, and taking some solace from that remembering. And, when things are pleasant, even splendidly pleasant, remembering impermanence doesn’t diminish the experience—it enhances it.

Right Aspiration is what develops in the mind once we understand that freedom of choice is possible. Life is going to unfold however it does: pleasant or unpleasant, disappointing or thrilling, expected or unexpected, all of the above! What a relief it would be to know that whatever wave comes along, we can ride it out with grace. If we got really good at it, we could be like surfers, delighting especially in the most complicated waves.