No Complaints What So Ever

Saying Nothing, The Observer Watches from the space that is forever quiet and still;
as the noisy, busy world bumps us around and knock us down, just as nature wills.
Me...woke up with this in my head, :)


Eckhart Tolle, in his video, Awakening from Self Talk, relays the story about a Zen monk who is about to part on a five year  journey.  The advice his master gives him before he leaves is to repeat to himself, no matter what he comes across, Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

I have heard versions of this story before, possibly in other Eckhart Tolle videos, and I cannot find the original version when I search...but...this pretty well says it all anyway, doesn't it? This statement is a practice in itself

Imagine

Imagine if we could...no matter what happens to us, no matter who or what we encounter on this journey through life... say ( and mean!!) Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

The sun is shining on the day of the family reunion Barb-B-Q: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.
It pours on the day of the family reunion Barb-B-Q: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

You land your dream job: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.
You get fired from your dream job: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

You meet your soul mate: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.
Your soul mate runs off with the babysitter: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

You make a hundred thousand  dollars in the stock market: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.
You lose a hundred thousand  dollars in the stock market: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

You are finally able to buy the house you always wanted after years of saving: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.
You lose the house you always wanted in a fire: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

Saying "Thanks" even when it hurts!

You get the point, right? It may be easy to say "Thanks" in the first scenarios but how easy is going to be, not to complain, and be instead "grateful" in the second scenarios. That is where the real practice comes in.

In order to appreciate, we must first accept and allow a circumstance to be what it is.  A complaint, on the other hand, is usually a strong resistance to what is.  It is a saying, "No!  This should not be!"  It is an argument with another or with life that things are not meeting our expectations of how we judge and perceive they should be. Complaints take us out of the present moment because in order to be there we need to accept the moment for what it is...anything it is. If we resist the event we encounter, we resist the moment, and if we resist the moment we resist life.

By saying , Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever, we put aside our resistance and allow the moment to be what it is .  Then we take a step farther by appreciating it...knowing that there is great opportunity in adversity to advance us further in our spiritual practice.  

It is also a beautiful practice in non-duality...putting aside our need to name and label and judge things as being either good or bad, worthy of thanks or worthy  grievance.  Remember  Hamlet's words. : Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so. (Act 2: Scene 2).  No matter what we encounter, we need to remember it is just life doing life.  We can learn to trust and  appreciate the majesty in that!

My Own Practice

I have been thinking, over the last few days, about where I am at on my journey along this "horizontal plane" .  I don't "react" the way I used to... to anything.  I seem to be even keel, not doing much. People say to me, "You must be bored!" I just seem to be so "blah!" to others.

My daughter actually called me a "robot" the other day because her pain body needed me to jump into a dramatic expression of her misery with her.  I make it a point now not to go there.  I stand outside it, observing, offering my deeper presence.  I am not angry or hurt by what her pain body does or says, nor am I deeply concerned about it.  I feel great compassion for her in her suffering but I don't jump in the hole with her. I just watch, wait and offer my presence from a very calm space.  It drives her crazy.

It struck me, that this is how I am lately.  I no longer am lost in ups and downs.  I no longer get excited by things that used to excite me.  My "ambitions" have been greatly reduced.  My "doing" is way below "normal". Nor do I expect Life to be a certain way, so I am seldom disappointed. I don't seem to look towards the future anymore, nor am I lost in the past. 

And as I write this the term "flat" comes to mind.  "Flat" is a term used in psychiatry to describe a person's affect when they are depressed. Hmmm! Without dependency on these ups and downs, am I flat?

I don't feel depressed, I don't feel bored and I don't feel like a robot.  I don't feel overly excited either. I just feel even...like I found the strongest mood stabilizer? I mean, I  still get irritable at times...menopause lol. I say it like it is. I probably am more outspoken than I was about some things...but not because I need to be right but because I feel I need to be honest, to see and express things as they are.

I find myself smiling a lot too...when I see a hummingbird fluttering by, or notice the blossoms on a tree or feel the sun and wind on my face.  That seems to be enough for me. You know, I am peaceful!!! I am just peaceful.  I don't look to the ups and downs of some crazy roller coaster to make me feel alive anymore...I am balancing here.  How?

Well I am finding the vertical plane, I wrote about yesterday.  And when we find that, this truly  does become our mantra: Thanks for everything.  I have no complaints what so ever.

Pretty crazy, huh?

All is well!

Eckhart Tolle ( May, 2020) Opinions Are Distractions in our Mind/ Awakening from Self Talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzA2YyRs8XA