In Every Life We Have Some Trouble

it's strange how little disappointments can cause us great suffering.  for instance, a few days ago, i had taken some pains to hang a small shelf for my wife, climbing up and down on a step stool, measuring, retrieving tools, finding just the right sized nails for the job.  in end the shelf, though perfectly level, did not appear to be straight because a nearby door was out of square, making the shelf look like it was askew.  after all my hard work, the job was not perfect.  the shelf had to come down, because no amount of adjusting would make it look right.  i was heartbroken.  "all my hard work for nothing," i thought.  all the rest of the day i was sad and could not get my mind away from the problem with the shelf.

now, as i look back, i see how i allowed something which i could not remedy to affect me deeply, spoiling my day.  instead of accepting that things don't always work out despite our best efforts, i dwelt on my problem, wounding myself over and over.  we do this so often in life, letting matters that are inconsequential and beyond our control cause us suffering.  of course, it is not the problem itself that causes us to suffer, but rather our pain is caused by our mind's interpretation of the situation and our constant rehashing of it.  we simply cannot let it go.  we do this with things great and small.  instead of finding a way around our problem, we constantly remind ourselves of our failure.

in the end, the solution to my little problem was to take down the shelf and find something else to hang in that spot that didn't bring the out-of-kilter door to the attention of the eye.  it wasn't until the next day that i realized that there was a way to solve my dilemma, but i refused to see it because my mind insisted on repeatedly cursing a situation that was not of my own making, one that was of little consequence in the end.  this is the way it is with everything that causes us to suffer.  we must recognize that we are not in control, that we must accept things that we cannot change and find ways to deal with them in a productively.

may we let go of our suffering, seeing that our distress is caused by our minds' interpretation of a situation, not by the situation itself.  may we set aside our  problems until our subconscious, intuitive, mind has time to work out a way to resolve them.  may we not allow our failures to control us by dwelling on them.  shalom.