Back in the saddle!

First, I'd like to give a shout out to the small but important set of people who have angrily demanded an explanation for the lack of a recent update.

Your whining makes me feel all warm and toasty inside -- seriously :).

The Grumpy Buddha apologizes; he has been traveling, entertaining family members, trying his hand a bit at writing fiction, and even doing the Socializing Thing. All good reasons for a brief hiatus. 

BUT . . . 

There have been some bad reasons, as well. It's a little intimidating just how much I want to cover:

• The other six bits of the Eightfold Path 
• The other four Hindrances
• Yearning for Justice vs "Letting Go" in Buddhism
• More thoughts about our stupid brains, with specifics on how shitty the wiring can be
• And much, much more! 

Sadly, though, one of the Grumpy Buddha's issues is procrastination, and nothing feeds procrastination like feeling overwhelmed. It triggers one of those Hindrances that I introduced a little while back: Doubt. And so, Doubt will be one of the topics that I will soon explore.

But . . . not today!

Given the hour, I will leave those thoughts for later. I will, though, conclude on a positive note. While reviewing this blog, specifically, this post, it struck me just how right I was about the role of impermanence in our lives, and specifically, our thoughts. 

The Grumpy Buddha has had an eventful last two months, to be sure -- still, it strikes me just how different what I am thinking (and overthinking) about now, was different from what it was last week, which was different from the week before, and so on. Similarly, my mood has changed -- I may not be bouncing off walls, but I'm certainly not in the Funk that I was in late last month. 

And so, to be ironic, I will end my thoughts on impermanence in the exact same way I ended that post, because the lesson, I think, is one of the most important ones there is.

------------
The concept of impermanence is perhaps the central theme of Buddhist thought -- central enough that it deserves the kind of font size, font type, and color changes that people use when they first discover word processors.

Whatever we are currently thinking about is not nearly as important, permanent, or profound as we think it is -- no matter how strongly our gut (or brain) tells us otherwise.

It's a hugely important concept, it helped me, and I advise you to consider it the next time you find yourself trapped in your own mind.
------------

I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.

--George Bernard Shaw