Q: How to overcome the pressure of daily work?
A: Well, my honesty to you is there is no painkiller, that you take a pill, as a spiritual pill, then you somehow you “overcome”, you “overcome” the numbness, and the burden, you “overcome” all of that. It doesn’t work like that.
Dharma, in order to have the true impact of the Dharma, you need to do retreat.
The retreat does not mean you have to go up in a cave, it doesn’t mean that you have to go crazy. The retreat means just stay in your home, closing the door, tell your family members that you are in the retreat today. You go to the washroom, cook your own meal, you keep your voice talking to the minimal, unless it’s something emergency, interact if it’s necessary. Other than that, just keep the chatter to the minimum. At least try to do that once in a week. And then I think, slowly, slowly, it will have an impact.
Because right now, the very driving force to liberate our challenges, or the pressure in our work, is the same mental approach as “I want to have a painkiller”. And if you have this mental approach that “I need to have a painkiller right now, quick as possible, give it to me, I don’t care how much it costs” if you have that approach, in a Dharmic way, then it may help for some people, but it is not guaranteed and it is not a healthy approach.
So therefore the healthiest approach is that you do retreat once in a week, read teachings, read biographies, teachings of different masters. And then try to do retreat once in a week, you tell your family members that “today I’m doing retreat, I’m keeping my conversation to the minimum, please have some respect to that”. Of course any family will, any family members and your friends will respect that, as they respect you when you watch television, when you go to sport, nobody disturb you isn’t it? You go to sport, you play golf, or you play football, whatever the sport you may be doing, nobody disturbs you right? So same reason, it’s not their main concern to know everything about your life, isn’t it?
So if you try to engage in that way, and I’m sure your perception about your life and your so-called work can be overcome, over the time. And at least, little bit more easier to overcome.
Kalu Rinpoche
FB Livestream – 10 October 2021
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