Hey there.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
This chance to go in and settle down and live light.
Food is weird.
Take blue cheese.
It's a food you actually want to grow moldy.
And it tastes like socks that have been shoved in the bottom of a seventh-grader's gym locker for months.
But I love it.
Now.
I didn't always when I was a kid.
Not surprising,
Because I was incredibly finicky growing up.
I subsisted on a diet of mac and cheese.
On those rare occasions when we went out for dinner,
My father would order blue cheese on his salad,
Probably to make it less salad-y,
And he would rave over it.
I would give it one sniff and promptly let out a long and dramatic,
Ewww.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Thank God my palate has changed.
Now I love the complexity and strangeness of blue cheese.
Its unapologetic revelation of its strong,
Weird,
And authentic self.
Here I am.
Take it or leave it.
Inhale.
Exhale.
What does blue cheese have to do with life?
In his book,
4,
000 Weeks Time Management for Mortals,
Oliver Berkman urges us to develop a taste for having problems.
Adult life serves us a steady diet of change and challenge,
Whether we ask for it or not.
We can sit there like a toddler,
Mouth puckered and arms crossed,
Refusing what is there.
Or we can see difficulties as just one of the ways good complexity gets added to our lives.
Inhale.
Exhale.
And those good complexities can make us stronger and a hell of a lot more interesting.
Because honestly,
Do we want our entire life to be wonder bread?
And we can develop a taste for having problems in all kinds of ways.
That might be a yoga mat where it serves up a steady diet of good problems.
The practice is to meet whatever arises with steadiness and ease.
So there is this robust readiness to be grounded and light all at the same time,
No matter what is being asked of us.
Another option is to take the one seat on a meditation cushion,
Doing our best to stay with what is,
Witnessing whatever arises with a curious and compassionate mind.
From there,
We get to choose what we allow in.
Not many of us would add brussel sprouts to chocolate chip cookies because it would ruin what is otherwise delicious and sweet.
Meditation can give us the same insight into our thoughts.
It's the chance to choose.
Am I going to allow this painful memory or that unhelpful habit to overpower this fresh moment right here and right now?
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Another way to offer good complexity is to try something new,
Something we suck at.
The idea is that we commit to showing up,
Knowing full well that problems will arise.
Our task then is to figure out how to work through the challenges as they come,
Which gives us the temperament,
If not the skills,
To do that in other situations as well.
Inhale.
Exhale.
What a thing to devote ourselves to,
Developing a taste for problems.
But since change and challenge are always on the menu,
This is our chance to make it intentional,
To make ourselves more grounded and vibrant and robust,
Ready for our own unapologetic revelation of our strong and weird selves.
Just like blue cheese,
Let's declare it.
Here I am.
Bring it.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Live.
Light.
