Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Buddha says...

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
- Buddha

This is one I need to remember.
I tend to define myself on what I can do for others. I like to help people. I'm a broke college student who is constantly absorbed in my studies and work, so there usually isn't much I can do. But I try. I give rides (most of my friends don't own a car), offer food or drinks, comfort, laughter, advice, what ever I can.

I like to please others. But sometimes I get so obsessed with pleasing others that I tend to forget about myself. It's actually a human habit: when we have a lot of obligations and a full schdule, the thing we tend to neglect first is ourselves. I have a hard time saying no to people, if they need help, want me to do something with them, or just hang out in general, I go out of my way to make it happen, or try to. Occasionally, especially when I get really busy, this tends to lead to a lot of stress and frustraition. I want to please everyone, and usually I can't.

I tend to feel bad and unworthy of the good fortune in my life. My parents pay for nearly everything to keep me a live and in college. (I have a job, but it is very low pay and with school starting up, very few hours. I keep mostly for the job experience.) I have a decent apartment, a reliable car, paid college education. I shouldn't have it this easy.

I need to remember this quote. Maybe post it up on my bedroom wall.

4 comments:

Samantha Shanti said...

Having been to hell and back more than once in this lifetime alone, this has been a hard, but vital lesson for me to embrace. I still love, nurture and support the people in and around my life, but have to treat myself at least as good as I treat everyone else now. If I don't love me, the way I expect to be able to love everyone else, than I'm not doing anyone any favors.

So it's a journey, and an interesting one to say the least. While we honor the Buddha in everyone around us, we must also our own inner Buddha to fully live the path.

The rewards are unquestionably there. I'm just glad this is a question, a concept you are visiting in your life NOW instead of waiting until half your life is gone. Rock on!

Sam

Anonymous said...

Hello,

This is "Gerald Ford" from the Level 8 Buddhist. I couldn't help but notice your last post.

Interestingly, the Buddha spoke of three forms of arrogance: thinking your better than others, thinking you are worse than others and thinking you are the same as others.

What the Buddha meant was that one ultimately get out of self-centered thinking, which is a way for the ego to feed itself. You can't make yourself do this of course, but it's what ultimately comes about through the Buddhist path.

Best of luck. :)

They call him James Ure said...

I tend to feel bad and unworthy of the good fortune in my life.

Me too. Part of this is from my mental condition. I live with Schizo-affective disorder.

I'm glad that you try and help others when you can. That can give us so much happiness but like you said, we need to look after ourselves too.

Alia said...

Thank you for all the lovely comments, you guys rock!

^_^