A student asked his teacher if a deep feeling of emptiness in his life represents a midlife crisis. While a crisis, midlife or otherwise, is no small matter, the guru's answer was simple: When was your life not a crisis?
In reality, every human being is in a state of crisis because we are all in a constant state of change. When we resist change, we call it a crisis.
Forty is not a crisis,
nor is eighty a crisis,
nor is death a crisis.
It is a natural process of life.
One of my favorite quotes came from Jack Nicholson who summed up this contradiction succinctly.
"Reality exists. It's not open to interpretation."
Every time I find myself feeling miserable, I look to see how I'm arguing with reality. As soon as I acknowledge the reality of the situation, e.g. my neighbor is crazy, my work environment is chaotic, and so on, I ask myself the only question that brings me back to reality...Is it true?
Until we learn to question our thoughts, we will continue to hurtle from one crisis to another. In the meantime, we're missing out on a whole lot of livin'.
Living in reality is the kindest thing we can do for ourselves. Spread the word.
