No one is irreplaceable, and no thing is a must-have. Seeing through this truth, when the people around you stop loving you, or when you lose everything you love most in this world, you should understand that it is not a big deal.
Be mindful of your thoughts, for thoughts shape your words; be mindful of your words, for words dictate your actions; be mindful of your actions, for actions form your habits; be mindful of your habits, for habits shape your character; and be mindful of your character, for your character is your destiny.
Transforming from a natural person to a social one, the six sensory organs that interact with the external world often work against us. The mouth, hands, and feet, though under control, are often uncontrollable: the mouth that learned to read ends up learning to swear, the hands meant to help often harm, and those intending to move up end up sliding down. The eyes, ears, and nose are beyond control; one must see what one wishes to avoid, hear what one does not wish to hear, and smell what one does not wish to smell. Yet, people can live with a serious control over these senses.
We tend to dwell too much on romantic love and too little on parental gratitude. The former is like a gourmet meal or a grand feast, stirring strong desires that make people forget themselves, unable to stop even when they want to. The latter is like oxygen around us, silently nourishing us at all times, yet often ignored and forgotten. Desire may bring you what you want most, but it also causes you to lose what is most important; by the time you look back, it is already too late.
The required course of life is accepting impermanence; the elective course is letting go of attachment. Life is just like this. If you can master your mindset, you can live according to your thoughts, or at least close to them. If you cannot master your mindset, you are mastered by it, swayed by your emotions, living a life you cannot even define. Is that not a tragic way of living?
Practice is using wisdom to create beauty. No one makes you troubled or in pain. If you cannot figure something out, it is because your wisdom and practice are insufficient; you should take responsibility for it. No matter where you go, nothing is perfect. If you only face things with one mindset and think from a single perspective, there will certainly be many imperfections and incompleteness.
The cause of suffering lies in the increasing divergence. Two people who meet in a phase of mutual compatibility eventually find, as time passes, that they are not moving in the same direction. The compatibility of a certain phase was merely an accidental overlap on a wide fork in the road.
To figure out why I couldn't sleep yesterday, I stayed awake again today. Insight: If you can't figure something out, stop thinking about it. Overthinking only adds more trouble. It is better to open your mind and let it go.
