Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great

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For example, if your goal is to become a lawyer, your daily tasks will feel like a drag because you’ll think only about the end result. However, if you come up with a compelling mission – say living to protect the innocent and fight for their freedom. Every day you’ll wake up inspired. Eager to do your work. In both the cases above, the person isn’t in love with the process. He expects rewards, but doesn’t want to overcome the obstacles present in his path. This is why I do a lot of reading, especially of spiritual books. Meditation is another essential for moving toward enlightenment. And again, meditation, reading, and devoting yourself to your inner peace are all things you have to do every day. (More on this below.) 2. Find joy in menial tasks

If a flow state tends to arise from spending time doing meaningful work and being around people you love, then we should all seek to maximize the time we can spend on these two things. For example, John wanted to become a samurai archer. Instead of practicing archery all day, he was asked to chop wood and carry water every day by his trainer Akira. Listen to your Favorite Books on The Go: Try Audible and Get Up To 2 Free Audiobooks | Get 3 Free AudiobooksIt relates to the essential Mahayana teaching Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra refer to. Teaching about the nature of signs and conceptual appearances coming from mind and eventually, transcending the dualistic nature of mind. All of those things are false. Happiness is available to us right here and now. If our outer life changes, it means nothing about the state of our inner life or suffering. And chances are, if we change the outside without changing what’s going on inside, we’re still going to experience suffering.

While reading this book, I felt like I’m watching an anime. I could visualize John training along with his sensei Akira. It’s hard to keep doing what you’re doing when you see other people achieving things with seemingly less effort. However, what’s presented online is not always true. Your worth statement should include your qualities that add to your worth, like courage, intelligence, etc. Live by your principles: Feelings change constantly. Relying on them to do things is usually a bad idea. Principles, however, are here to stay. If you write only when you feel like writing, you’ll write twice a month probably. In contrast, if you have a principle to write every-single-day, you’ll do it regardless of how you feel. Set principles for work and for life and live according to them.Whatever you do in your life, consistency is key. For survival, we chop wood and carry water every day to ensure that we have warmth and stay hydrated. Our spiritual well being needs tending just the same. Read over 2 million e-books on any device: Sign up for 30 days free trial of Kindle Unlimited and read your favorite titles. If you are serious and understand the importance of patience and hard work after reading this summary, then I highly recommend you enroll in this specialization course on Coursera: I have been very poor and I am now very rich. I am an optimist by nature. And I have the ability to write poetry and create the forest I am busy planting. Am I happy? No. Or, at least, only occasionally, when I am walking in the woods alone, or deeply ensconced in composing a difficult piece of verse, or sitting quietly with old friends over a bottle of wine. Or feeding a stray cat…I could do all those things without wealth.”