Buddha taught that everything changes
There are very few certainties in life, but one thing that will remain consistent throughout your life is that you will constantly have challenges and problems to overcome. Although these challenges will vary from person to person, the Buddha taught that the solution to all problems can be divided into 7 major areas of development.
the Buddha outlines these 7 areas; my interpretation of this text is below.
1. Knowledge/Understanding
We currently live in an age of information, and while this store of knowledge can be overwhelming at times, it is very useful in overcoming challenges in your life.
If you have a challenge, there is always a solution. Your job is to gather the information, siphon the good from the bad, and devise a plan to get there.
It’s not always easy; in fact, it is usually very difficult and depending on the problem you are facing, it may take quite a bit of trial and error.
But if you are determined to overcome a problem you face, there will always be a solution, you just have to find it!
2. Resistance/replacement
As you make a transition in your life, there will be times when you will need to rely on your resistance to temptation.
If you’re starting a new exercise regimen, trying to overcome procrastination, or kicking an addiction of any kind, there will be times when you’ll have to resist the temptation to fall back into bad habits. But while this is very important, it is really only part of the solution.
It would be very difficult to give up a bad habit just by resisting it. So if you’re trying to change a bad routine, you’ll find it easier if you consciously replace it with a more productive routine.
Buddha taught to consciously replace a bad routine with a more productive one
If you stop smoking, you can start painting. When you stop eating junk food, you can start eating healthy food. Or if you no longer hang out in nightclubs and get drunk, you can start practicing yoga and drinking raw juice.
It is very important that you consciously look for healthy, sustainable replacements for bad habits, because if you don’t, you may develop a worse habit in their place.
3. Consumption
Consumption works both ways; you may be consuming too much or too little.
You may be eating too much or too little. You may not be drinking enough water or drinking too much soda. You may be buying too many things that you don’t need, or you may be depriving yourself of the things you do need.
Be that as it may, in your case, consuming more or less of certain things will help you overcome some challenges in life.
This lesson really goes hand in hand with knowledge, because as you learn more about your needs as a human being, you gain more insight into what you should consume more or less of.
A good example of this is medications and when I say medications, I’m not just talking about pills, but also plants, herbs and food medicines.
This is the vicious circle of symptom-oriented treatment and not looking at health as a whole.
Most diseases, whether spiritual, emotional, mental or physical, can be overcome naturally. So, do your best to find out how you can use nature to overcome your problems before taking toxic and dangerous medications.
Consumption also works for the mind, your thoughts become things. So if you’re stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts, you may want to try replacing them with something more positive.
4. Patience/perseverance
You can’t always have what you want, when you want it! This isn’t a bad thing; Imagine if everything you wanted to do was accomplished instantly. You would have nothing to strive for, no goals and no reason to wake up in the morning.
If you want something big in your life, you will have to be patient and also persistent.
If you’re working towards a goal every day and that goal is something you have some control over, then the only thing that can stand between you and your goal is time!
One thing to remember is that you should try to enjoy the journey. If you think a certain goal will bring you happiness and you struggle to find something to be grateful for along the way, chances are you still won’t feel satisfied when you finally get there.
Celebrate every little victory on the way to your big goals, be patient and persistent and you will get there eventually!
5. Avoidance
Some things in your life are out of your control, certain people and places will have a negative influence on you. Sometimes it’s not possible to just walk away from these things, but you can do your best to avoid them.
If someone at work behaves negatively and always makes you feel down, avoid them. If you make changes to your diet and your friends go to a fast food restaurant, don’t go. If your partner loves Housewives Of New Jersey and you don’t, read a book while they watch it!
Some things in life will have to be faced, but sometimes the best way to deal with a problem is to simply avoid or ignore it.
6. Removal
There will be times in your life when avoiding a problem is simply not feasible. Sometimes in life you have to make tough decisions, but usually the tough decisions have the biggest impact.
Sometimes friendships and relationships end. Sometimes a career has such a negative impact on your life that you have to leave. Sometimes you have to stop relying on willpower to get you through your diet and throw away chocolate chip cookies.
Your life is your responsibility and if certain things have a constant negative impact on you, you will have to make a decision: am I going to accept this or delete it and move on.
This can be one of the hardest things anyone can do, but if you take note of things, people and places that are having a bad influence on your life and do your best to remove them, your life will change for the better.
7. Lifestyle
The first step for lifestyle is discovering what lifestyle you really want. Many people enter adulthood without knowing what they want or what they stand for.
Lifestyle affects your health, wealth and relationships. So if you want to live a fulfilling life, it’s important that you know what you want and build a lifestyle around it.
Lifestyle is actually a combination of the knowledge you acquire, the daily habits you participate in, and what you consider acceptable during your journey.
It is very important that you set strict boundaries in some areas of your life to ensure that your life is the life you want to live.
Let’s face it: we all have the same amount of time in the day, but some people barely manage to complete household chores, while others can run a Fortune 500 company and still find the time to meditate, go to the gym and hanging out with friends and family in the evening.
Buddha taught to cultivate the positive, reduce negativity and purify the mind.
It’s very much about looking at your life and seeing what is productive and empowering and what is negative and disempowering. Then do more of the positive and less of the negative!