Recently, I attended a lecture of a buddhist nun at the SF Zen Center and there was one line that stood out to me more than anything else when she recalled a discussion.
She said that oftentimes, people complain about various situations in their lives or the Zen Center itself and how many things could be improved and aren’t working well right now. She said that she agreed with most everything that people brought up. And yet, she added, she always tells people “do what you came here to do!”
I reflected on this and realized what great advice that was.
When we set out to do something, we are often faced with lots of obstacles. We might not like how certain things are or we get agitated when things don’t go according to plan. We believe things should work better or that the environment should be more friendly, exciting, whatever it may be.
And yet, we all set out to do something and these things can get in the way. They sidetrack us and make us lose focus on what it actually is we wanted to accomplish in the first place.
Whenever I uncover similar thoughts about myself now, when I am in a certain situation, where I find fault with something or experience a situation to be different than I had anticipated, I aim to remind myself with the simple thought “Do what you came here to do”. It’s very refreshing and quickly helps me frame things much more positively and sparks my creativity.
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This was some of the best advice I received recently: “Do what you came here to do”
— Leo Widrich (@LeoWid) January 11, 2015