10th January 2025
I recently came across this story on the importance of action:
A student once approached the Buddha and asked him for a straight answer on some of the unanswerable questions that were challenging him about life.
The Buddha replied:
“Imagine someone is struck by a poisoned arrow. A doctor is brought to his side to remove the arrow and treat the wound, but the man stops him.
‘Not so fast! First, I want to know who shot me. What town or village does he come from? I would also like to know what kind of wood his bow was made out of. Also, was it a crossbow or a longbow?’
Clearly that man would die and his questions would remain unanswered.
Like the man in the story, we occasionally get shot with the poisoned arrows of suffering and ignorance.
We try to control the uncontrollable.
But ruminating too much on the nature of that suffering and ignorance, on the uncontrollable, is unlikely to help us with that.”
Similary, there are a lot of things in life that are completely out of our control:
Another person’s thoughts, opinions, or actions,
Past events,
Future events,
Random “acts of God”,
Black Swan events,
Stock market returns in the short term,
And yet, we burn a lot of energy stressing over these things on a daily basis.
We sit, scroll on our phone, and wrestle with these things that we have no ability to control.
Here’s something I’ve learned:
Stress and anxiety feed on idleness. When you take action, you literally starve them of the oxygen they need to survive.
The answer is found in the action.
Take action on those things within the realm of my control and forget the rest.
You cannot think your way to a better life, you have to act.
The answers you seek are found in the actions you avoid.
In 2025, take more action & stay blessed forever.