DAY 73 – DISRUPTIVE NATURE OF LIFE: HUMAN DIFFICULTIES

I am drinking a smoothie and started to think about the word smoothie. The word comes from the word smooth. Both words connote an evenness to it and something without lumps.

Life itself is not a smooth and even ride. People have problems that they wish they would not have. They are disruptive to living our lives in harmony with our fellow human beings and with the earth. They make it harder to find inner peace and inner harmony which is where each of us wants our lives to be.

Everything we do takes place at that exact moment. Certain things we think about and are engaged in seem so important while we are doing it that we lose sight about the ramifications of our actions. The immediacy of the moment often completely outweighs the tomorrows.

How can anyone make beneficial decisions if they do not look at what will follow. Some actions appear very rational at that moment but when a person looks in the rearview mirror it becomes obvious that previous thoughts and behaviors have created more disharmony than anyone anticipated.

Most problems are unintended. No one wants to purposefully make his or her life more problematic than it needs to be. No one wants the stressors that are associated with living a life filled with short term or longer term turmoil.

When we ignore a problem by continuing to act as before and expect it to go away without intervention no one can expect a smooth journey. Intermittent problems can be very annoying at best but a particular problem that lingers can be a psychological drain that makes it seem that there is no end in sight. Living one’s life with one struggle after another doesn’t make any sense.

By understanding that something can happen at any moment to disrupt a smooth and peaceful life can help us interject the bigger picture into the equation of our beliefs and actions. We can try and figure out what will create problems whether they take place at that moment or years down the road. This applies to each of us as an individual and all of us as an entire species.

I now realize that human difficulties are a disruptive aspect to a harmonious life and world. I can no longer act in the absence of understanding the bigger picture. I can no longer ignore problems because they will not go away on their own.