An old Zen Story
A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him.
"Master, I wish to become your disciple," said the man.
"Why?" replied the hermit. The young man thought for a moment.
"Because I want to find the purpose of life."
The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head underwater. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath.
When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke.
"Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were underwater."
"To breathe!" answered the man.
"Very well" said the master.
We think we have a lot of problems; stressful situations in life that we don't know how to handle, and we forget that everything becomes very minor when we think about the purpose of life- to live, to be happy.
So when I remind myself that the purpose of life is to live, it simply allows the mind to drop all the ideas about problems, and ask who will I be without any problem?
When I feel stress in my life, I want to stop and ask questions like,
what caused me to feel stress? Is it how I live my life? the way I act?take action? react to life?
This questioning is the way to support me to be here, alive, to relax and maximize my life, be centered and non-emotional.
That is the beginning of self-questioning.
We all have the opportunity at this moment to ask ourselves, what kind of life do we want to live? How would we like to wake up? what would we like to do? what is the quality that we define for our life?
For that, I support anyone to take a piece of paper, write down the things that you really want to do in life, the things you will appreciate to have and feel in life. Where to live, with whom, what to do, how to do it, and slowly compare between the way you live life now to the way you want to live.
By taking these small steps, we will start to be aware of the things that are no longer working for us.
And there is no separation- the purpose of life is to live while having a happy relationship, a healthy body, a satisfying and nourishing project, and experience well-being.
So when we receive a sign, an alarm such as stress, low energy, doubts, and resistance to the way we live- it's a good moment to allow ourselves to stop and question, to reflect, to be aware, not to do any action yet.
Many times people believe- "It's not going to work", "it's not practical" - but it is very practical to stop, observe and question your life.
See what is the immediate action that we can take today, not tomorrow.
Meet life moment by moment, adjust, do the best we can and live a simple life.
