Cattāri Brahmavihārā

The past week has been pretty rough physically. Twelve hour days full of manual labor didn’t leave much room for anything else and have made me ever more sensitive to the cruelties and kindnesses of others.

I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to try to use the hardship of moving as a spiritual practice and I think what follows flowed directly from that aspiration. Anyway, without further ado, let me get to the point: it occurred to me that there is no better way to live this life than through the practice of meeting aversion, enmity and misfortune with unexpected kindness and humor.

Someone spits on you, thank them for having brushed their teeth. Someone criticizes you, ask for more detail. You lose your business, take joy in having been relieved of an onerous burden.

No one can “make us” feel anything to which we don’t consent so why pretend that our happiness depends on the words and deeds of others? It is proving to be incredibly refreshing and invigorating to surprise myself and others with unexpected and unwarranted kindness.