I think I wrote about this a few weeks ago–or more–but I was driving up a road I drive up a lot, stuck at a light I get stuck at a lot, and it HIT me that there is a completely different dimension you can live in if you just change your relationship with time. The world alters completely in how it feels, even if everything looks just the same. Certainly you will SEE more, but that is not the point.
Just slow down 5%. Do what you need to do. Lord knows I don’t want to ask you to make some radical change in your life. Just do 5% less in the same amount of time, and, if you need to, work just a little longer. You will have more stamina in any event, and work will not seem as stressful.
All the emotions that are possible for any of us anywhere, are open to all of us at any moment. Much of spiritual training is emotional training which consists first in AWARENESS, and then learning to feed what you want more of, and starve what you want less of. You never get 100% good stuff, and 0 bad stuff, but the balance becomes something you can control within certain wide boundaries.
I can flex my bicep any time I like. Imagine being able to conjure–and I like this particular word–gratitude and appreciation and acceptance the same way.
Here is a nice quote, that I think is relevant:
Even though they dwelled in austere, even harsh places, the great yogis of history were highly developed internally; they were constantly enjoying every drop of their living experience.
They rejoiced in the sounds they heard, the flavors they tasted, the odors they smelled, the textures they touched and the light they perceived. They were artists without a canvas; their way of being in this world was their masterpiece, and even their most ordinary gestures and expressions could conduct creativity.
Tarthang Tulku, in Kum Nye Dancing.
I said something like this in the past year or so. I honestly don’t remember if I may have read this before. It’s definitely possible.