Eye of the Storm

My New Years resolution is to be better about my blog posts. I will be linking to Facebook for anyone who is interested so they can check it out at their own leisure and will (for obvious reasons). Some topics might be considered too negative or too political for the average Facebook user. OK? Good.

"There is never enough of that which does not satisfy" -Nirmala

What has happened in 2010? Are we on the path to new things? We had an earthquake in Haiti and now the country is crippled more than ever. Then we had the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. An earthquake in Chile and a Pacific tsunami. Earthquake in China and volcanic ash over Iceland stopping air-traffic in Europe. The Deepwater Horizon exploded killing 11 people and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Greece fell into massive financial trouble and required a bail-out. Earthquake and Tsunami off the coast of Sumatra India. Mt. Merapi in Indonesia Erupts. Ireland also fell into financial trouble and required a bail-out. Wikileaks released a collection of more than 250,000 American cables.

A great many other things happened, but those are a few of the big ones. The list is, of course, not exhaustive by any means. What is in store for 2011? The Arizona shooting spree in an attempt to assassinate US lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords wasn't a good start. I am not trying to imply that 2011 will not be a good year because of that, however. What can we draw from this if anything? Well, I guess just that we must first accept that the world we live in is never a static place and that we should be thankful for a lot of things. Thankful because most of us were not (directly) negatively affected by these events. Much of our lives are spent trying to create a permanent and pleasurable environment for ourselves. The truth is all things change. Let go of the desire to stop the fluidity of transforming conditions. Instead of jumping ahead in your mind to small moments of fulfillment (that really never seem to come) try living in the immediacy of the present moment. If you might accept that long-term satisfaction can not be fulfilled by external experiences (or objects) then your pursuits might not end in disappointment. "Desire only leads to more desire" - like being stuck in a feedback loop. We won't be able to stop earthquakes or tsunamis but, we can create a safe path that can go right through the middle of the eye of the storm.