The older monk, Ajahn Chah, decided to call it a day and head back in. The younger, Ajahn Brahm, quickly followed suit. Ajahn Brahm loved walking with the older Ajahn Chah, because he knew sometimes, at the end of the day, the old monk would give a lesson, or a "talk" as they sometimes called it.
The older monk didn't speak very often, and certainly not at great length, so when he did speak it was important to pay attention.
A lot could be learned on a long walk home.
Ajahn Brahm had a lot on his mind recently. His problems had started small, like most usually do, but he was finding it harder and harder to meditate and free himself of the constant noise in his mind. It seemed his small problems were steadily growing. He was having trouble sleeping, and that just made the situation even worse. Of course, that caused him to worry more, meditate less, and lose even more sleep, and around and around it went.
He mentioned all of this to Ajahn Chah, as they started their walk.
Ajahn Chah stopped and turned towards the younger monk. He told him to find the largest stick on the ground, pick it up, and carry it with him.
Well Ajahn Brahm did just that. He looked around for a bit, found a large stick, picked it up and started walking.
Not another word was spoken for a long while. The time continued to pass, and the monks were getting closer and closer to home.
"Why in the world am I carrying this stick?" thought Ajahn Brahm. "This is silly. Maybe the old monk has forgotten about my question".
Ajahn Brahm summed up his courage and spoke. "What is the meaning of this stick Ajahn Chah? Have you forgotten about my problem?"
The old monk stopped, turned toward the young man and asked, "Is the stick heavy Ajahn Brahm?"
"Yes" replied the young monk.
"And does it feel as if it has gotten heavier during our walk?" asked Ajahn Chah.
"Yes" again replied the young monk.
The old monk reached out, took the stick from the young monk's hands, and threw it on the ground.
"It is only a burden" he said, "if you carry it with you".
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The longer we hold on to life's problems, whether they are big or small, the heavier they become.
Small sticks become heavy sticks. 1 stick becomes 2, 2 sticks turn into 3, and the next thing we know, we're carrying around a whole basket full of sticks.
Put them down. It's okay to think and solve our problems, but lying awake at 4AM, worrying about a problem that may or may not occur, is a waste of our time and energy. Even if a problem should occur in the future, you're not going to prevent it from happening by losing sleep over it.
We can be certain that no one on their death bed ever thought, "Boy I sure wish I had spent more time worrying".
Stop it. Put down the sticks. Refuse to pick up any more. Just continue walking on your path, and enjoy your journey, without the unnecessary burdens. You'll encounter plenty of necessary burdens along the way. You're going to need all of your strength to deal with those, so don't waste it.
[The story above uses real characters. I first heard it years ago from the Buddhist monk, Ajahn Brahm. It is from an interview he gave to a local reporter in his monastery in Australia. Ajahn Brahm's version is much shorter, and brilliant. My version here is embellished solely for the sake of this blog. However, the point of the story remains exactly the same. If you'd like to know more about Ajahn Brahm, just do an internet search for him. He is a wonderful teacher, with a great sense of humor. I promise you will enjoy him.]
Enjoy the ride.
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