Zen and embracing Life

“There is nothing either good or bad,but thinking makes it so.”

- William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”

Adapted from a Post written by Leo Babauta.

One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are.

Without judgment, without wishing for otherwise.

When we see something we don’t like, we wish it could be different —

The root of the unhappiness, according to Buddhists, is Desire. Desire to have things different, desire for something we dont have, desire for something the way it was.....

This means accepting it as the way the world works — as the way things actually are. And try to understand why that is, and embrace it. As it is. Embrace Life, as it is!

This can be applied to whatever you do: whether it be how other people act at work, how your mate acts or reacts to situations, the way the weather is, politics or the way your dinner turned out.

Accept these things as they are, and try to understand why they’re that way.

It’ll save you a lot of grief, because you’ll no longer say, “Oh, I wish things were better"

Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of change, of learning and growing.

Can we make this world a better place? Again, that’s assuming that it’s a bad place right now. But instead, you could say the world is just what it is — and that’s neither good nor bad. You can say that you’ll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world — not because you’re such a bad person now, or the world sucks, but because that’s the path you choose to take, because you enjoy that path.

As you catch yourself judging, and wishing for different — and we all do it — try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results.

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” - Lao Tzu

I thought the embrace life set was perfect for this concept. Accept things the way they are, embrace them as they are right now at this very moment....

The first card uses Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Dusty Durango. I embossed the plants first, used the brayer to color the card and stamped the sentiment with staz on, last.

The second card, I stamped and embossed the flowers in the background, I used my brayer and Rich Razzleberry (dont you love that color?) on top of the embossed flowers, stamped in clear embossing ink. I then stamped and embossed the flower outlines, sponged on the color, added some white ink and some crystal effects, added the pearl after cutting them out and adhering them to the card. I used the Scallop Oval sizzix die to add something to the center (as much as I love razzelberry, it was too much), I water colored the scalloped part of the oval with razzelberry and glued the flowers to the frame. I also distressed teh oval a little bit. Eh, I am not really happy with how it came out, its not the look I was going for, but, It is what it is, I embrace it ;)