Yes Ed, I'll go with that advice! I think my interest really is in the difference between a totally non-zen life, and a life that does incorporate some zen. Rose
--- On Mon, 10/4/10, ED <[email protected]> wrote: From: ED <[email protected]> Subject: [Zen] Re: 'Having a problem with somebody' - Bill, et al To: [email protected] Date: Monday, October 4, 2010, 8:13 PM Rose, You appear to have a complete understanding of the dynamics of the situation. I too find it hard to control my anger on occasion. But my hormone levels are lower due to age, so my emotional responses are weaker. I say to myself: "You do what you do and you get what you get." Cest la vie! --ED --- In [email protected], Rose P <things_r...@...> wrote: > I hadn't read anything like that level of detail into Bills statement. It seemed simple, and it *seems* simple. Just bloody difficult in practice..... I'll give you an example from my own life - which is messy and bitty, as life sometimes is... My 15 year old daughter lives with her father in the US. They moved city (and she moved school) 6 weeks ago. 3 weeks ago she told me that he (dad) was going to Vegas for 3 days on business and she would be looked after by a friend (who turned out to be female, very reliable, very lovely) while he was away. He didn't let me know anything about him going, or who was going to be looking after said daughter. My immediate reaction was one of......ermm.....anger-ish maybe. Something like that. But I decided to not react and take it on the chin, so to speak. All was *well*, and calm. Another couple of weeks down the line I was on the webcam to her (me in UK) and she said 'Daddys gone to Hong Kong for 7 nights on business'. As much as I wanted to have the reaction I had to situ number 1, I flipped out, at him, not at her. The result of my *flipping* was that I have now lost the relationship I had with my ex-mother in law, and have well and truly had several good old nasty rants at him. Going back to Bills statement, about it never being the other persons problem - I want so much to abide by this idea. In practice however, yeah, it's bloody difficult. Will hope for a better outcome for all involved the next time I'm in a position not to react unfavourably...... You see where I'm coming from..? It's not the specific situ as described above that I'm interested in taking apart and analysing per se (I'm fully aware that I could just not have reacted), although it does example what I'm talking about, it's how more practised individuals than I have managed to *cope* (is that the word I wonder?) with their lifes situations, drawing on their zen practice over the years. Rose
