Ezra Bayda

 “If only I could just relax and find some stillness and ease.“  If only this, if only that; ‘if only’ is a bumpy road to travel since the present moment is never quite good enough. Instead of grabbing straws and ‘what ifs’, one would be better served to look into exactly who is it that feels so entitled as to sit on a throne and expect to have the world unfold according to some fantasy?  It’s an imagined self that feels incomplete and ill at ease. And in truth, it has no real power to control the kaleidoscope of experience and emotions anyway. What can be done is to stop, contemplate and see that you are more than a mere mental figment caught in a web of ever changing experiences and emotions.  You are life itself being lived out in its own unique way. As they say in Zen, “It’s all a ride in somebody else’s cart”. Do as you do, live as you live, try as you try, chop wood, carry water, and in the end there is nothing left but to enjoy the ride with all its bumps and potholes. This strange paradise is enlightenment itself.