Today is Sunday. This Sunday is the 7th of December and there are two weeks of school left. As deadlines press on and workloads and schedules mix life goes on, just add more potential chaos. This Sunday is the kind of Sunday I usually use as a last resort. This weekend for me is a stay-at-home weekend to get at least twice as much work done.

The last weeks have been delay after delay and issue after issue. I have decided to just stick to what I do best. That is to focus completely to get as much as possible done, this time in 48 hours. I can still remember that a younger me would most likely complain and criticise the situation.

Through the years I have had to learn many tough lessons. At one point in my life I had to make a choice between talking about problems and solving problems. When you have to survive and face facts, is often the moment when you decide. I wanted to move forward and solve problems so I would have a life to enjoy.

I notice that the older and more experienced I become, the less I tend to complain. It is wasted breath and brings me back to when I read two books in particular. In the Bible there is the book “Ecclesiastes” and there is “The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying” by Sogyal Rinpoche. In “Ecclesiastes” there is the emphasis on how many things are in vain. In Rinpoche’s work the emphasis is on Buddhist foundations: you live, you suffer and you die.

In addition to that both books add something else. “Ecclesiastes” also emphasises that in the end enjoying what you do makes the difference. Rinpoche’s work approaches that angle slightly differently with the emphasis on virtuous behaviour and most notably compassion. Compassion here is a virtue that entails a way of life.

There is not much to add if you ask me. In the end what matters, is how one copes that decides the outcome of the events that take place. I have become older and I appreciate much more than when I was a kid. If the accounting equation could be adjusted I would make it as follows: happiness = enjoyment – complaints.

There is still so much to learn and enjoy…