Hanoi is hot. And getting hotter. The dog days are here! It tops 37 degrees most days, the little rain that falls barely touches the steaming streets. I am rethinking my choice to live life without air conditioning.. I miss sleep.
Summer school has begun. My lesson.. is patience and how love works. I'm a foundation builder, a bringer of knowledge, a sign holder, door opener.. Working with small children requires an extremely open heart. (And ample sleep is actually the most important resource a teacher can possess.)
My kids have got me thinking about happiness.
I wonder at adults, and how people get trapped within in cycles of negativity, unhappiness and anger. It's a short life and as we get older, we seem to absorb and collect our negative beliefs. Why is change and disappointment so difficult to take in stride? And why does past negativity so affect future thoughts and actions?
The difference between little kids and adults is they live in the moment. Negative or positive is simply judged as it is, felt, then let go. Life is happiness until it is sadness, and it is only sad for as long as the cause remains. So.. life is mostly happiness.
My kindergarten lesson this month is letting go of past and viewing my current thoughts, anger, worry, sadness etc with no judgement, asking... how do I feel in this moment? In this exact moment, how do I actually feel? Now... right now.
..perfectly fine.
Maybe there is nothing that can be negative if you throw away your preconceptions, prior judgments, expectations of others, labels and past.. it's a very Eckhardt Tolle thing to say I know. But being fully present in the moment without thoughts from the past, or worry about the potential future, is the only real life we have.
