A Slippery Slope

"All you have to do is decide that wherever you are is the best place there is. Once you start comparing one place to another there is no end to it."

-- Sodo Yokoyama

It seems like I spend half the winter complaining that it's winter. I'd rather be anguishing in Tahiti or swimming in Florida or baking in Arizona or snuggled deeply in the devils' jockstrap -- anywhere as long as it's warm! And yet, year after year, I spend most of my winter in the frozen tundra of the great Midwest.

Now it doesn't take a Zen master like Sodo Yokoyama to see that I'm wasting my time complaining, but you may have to be damn near a Zen master not to fall into the complaint trap yourself. For you, it may have nothing to do with winter. You may spend half your day at work wishing you were somewhere, anywhere, else. Or you may wish you lived not in the tiny crackerbox you now inhabit, but rather on a white-fenced horse farm, in a suburban McMansion, or in a penthouse with breathtaking views.

It doesn't matter what you're comparing -- all comparisons are odious. All comparisons, whether they are geographic in nature or not, are merely a refusal to accept reality. Each time you compare you are basically saying, "if I were God, if I were in charge of this here universe, you can bet your sweet ass things would be a damn sight different around here."

Here's a little secret -- nothing that you want to change really matters. Sure I could move to Florida, or find a way to "winter" there, but do you for one moment think that my new environment would stop me from comparing and complaining? Hell no! I've spent alot of time in Florida and the summers are too damn hot and humid, and there are way too many friggin' bugs, and in the nicest places there are almost more people than there are grains of sand, which reminds me that the beaches are really never as nice as I remember them... and on and on ad nauseum.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't try and improve or change your life. What I am saying is that the biggest improvement or change that you can make is to give up the judgmental comparing mind, give up your war with reality, and realize that this place is the best place, that now is the best time, and that joy comes not so much from achievement as from acceptance.

Comparison is indeed a slippery slope. Once you start, you're on a downward slide straight to Hades. Nothing is ever good enough. Not even you. Especially you.

So, let's take a stance. Right here, right now -- acceptance of what is, of where we are, of who we are. Instead of looking around in a fit of comparison, let's look God straight in the eye. Thanks, Big Guy.