Peter De Vries once said, "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork." There's an old saying, "God is in the details," meaning that we discover the highest spiritual truth in the midst of fulfilling our responsibilities in the everyday world. A kitchen was once being remodeled in a Zen monastery. The woman who was doing the remodeling remarked to the Zen Master, "Everything is completed, except for a few details." The Zen Master responded in a puzzled tone, "The details?— that's all there is, is details." Sometimes we want to escape the details of our ordinary life. Yet it is within the details that we find our deepest realization and enlightenment. So let's not neglect the details in favor of something more important. When we are completely focused on the details of our life, we realize that the details themselves are the path to our enlightenment. Your work in the world is the way of your spiritual fulfillment. 

There once was a parrot who only knew three words: "Who is it?" One day a visitor called at the house when no one was home except the parrot. The man rang the door bell. From within the house, the parrot said, "Who is it?" "It's the plumber," the man said. "You called me because your pipes broke, and your basement was flooded." "Who is it?" the parrot cried. "It's the plumber— I tell you," the man shouted. "Who is it?" "It's the plumber!" the man screamed. Finally he became so upset that he fainted by the front door of the house. A neighbor, who happened by, saw the man lying by the front door, rushed up to the house, looked down at the man and asked, "Who is it?" The parrot answered, "It's the plumber!" Sometimes situations in our life seem to be saying to us "Who is it?" And we may be wasting time and energy in a frustrated attempt to explain ourselves. We may need to proceed on our way without trying to give every situation we encounter an explanation of who we are and what we are about in this life. 

A son once sent his mother for her birthday a talking bird that spoke five languages. He paid $500.00 for this extraordinary bird. A day later he called and asked his mother how she liked the bird. "Delicious," she said. The son screamed, "You ate the bird! That was a talking bird; I paid $500.00 for that bird. It spoke five languages." "So why didn't it say something when I put it in the oven?" the mother replied. Sometimes we take it for granted that people will understand our intentions and will respond accordingly. But people have their own way of seeing reality, and their viewpoint may not be quite the same as ours. What is important to us may not be so important to them. It is always helpful to communicate clearly with others about our concerns so that they understand us. Clarity in relationships helps us avoid unnecessary confusion and misunderstanding. When we speak our mind clearly, others are likely to respond in kind, and genuine communication occurs. 

Sometimes we feel as if we are suffering from the doldrums of escalating inertia. No matter how much we do or how hard we try, we feel, in T.S. Eliot's words, like a "patient etherized upon a table." The way to break free from this feeling of ennui is to make a commitment to ourselves to begin to take action in some new areas of our life. What simple things have we left undone? Sometimes we can't reach a new level until we've completed our work at the present level. Make a list of necessary things that need our attention— things we have postponed completing— and complete them, quickly, without complaining, obsessing or procrastinating. As we do what is set before us, there's a moment when our inertia melts into energy, vitality and joyous enthusiasm, and we are set free. 

A Hasidic rabbi was once asked what he did before he prayed. He said "I pray that I might pray." Preparation is an important, even crucial, step in our calling in this life. Most of us spend many years equipping ourselves for our life work. James Joyce, as part of his self-training as a writer, became a skilled linguist. Even though English was his medium of expression, he became proficient in half a dozen or so other languages. At one point, he even learned Norwegian so he could read Ibsen, the great playwright, in the original. Whatever our profession or vocation, we, like James Joyce, can dedicate ourselves to perfecting our skills and mastering our abilities. The better equipped we are in developing our capacities, the more excellent will be our offering to our world. Since we are each here to do something in this life, why not do what we do with great integrity, clarity and precision. 

As Robert Schuller says, "Fail to plan; plan to fail." Sometimes we forget to think ahead, and so we suffer the consequences of our lack of preparation. Two weeks ago, the weather in Albuquerque was so nice, many of us forgot to plan for the weather to change. We thought fall would just become spring and then summer and we forgot that winter comes in there too. Then suddenly there were a flood of panic calls to the gas company to come turn on the heat! "What? I have to wait how long? Oh no— I've blown it again." We find that life is a great teacher. It is helpful and saves much pain and discomfort to plan ahead. In business and in life it is important to have a plan. Goals give meaning and direction to our life and save us needless wear and tear. 

Sometimes we feel so stuck that we are almost paralyzed. At these times, we feel torn by indecision and self-doubt; we feel that we just don't know what to do or even how to begin. But we can only postpone things for so long. One day, through no fault and no virtue of our own, we find ourselves released from our inertia— it happened when we were looking the other way. Suddenly, we discover our freedom to act, to be decisive, to break through the bonds that have held us in place so long. Perhaps something deep inside of us is released, and we are free to spring into action. Or perhaps some outer condition or situation changes, and the change produces a corresponding transformation within us. Regardless of how it happens, inwardly or outwardly, we have the instantaneous realization that we have been released from frustration into fulfillment. We know it, and our joy is made tangible. 

Most of us are repelled by the idea of repetition, yet a good part of our lives is spent in repeating various actions. Most of us brush our teeth upon awakening— many of us even floss. We probably drive to work through the same route every day, and we probably do many of the same routine chores everyday, more or less at the same time and in the same way. We may eat the same kinds of foods and talk in the same tones of voice, day in and day out. We tend to pray, dance, eat, swim, walk, talk, go to the mountains, entertain guests, watch TV or movies or listen to music in pretty much the same manner, year in, year out. We may resist this fact about ourselves and wish it were otherwise, but there is a value to repetition. We become upset when our usual travel route is thwarted or our routine is otherwise disturbed because we feel a kind of order and harmony and balance within our repetitive actions. Allow repetition to smooth your way forward. 

I once lived in a town that had a huge hill right in the center. For many months, everyday, I would push my bicycle up this huge hill to the top, jump on, and go whizzing down the hill, feeling the wind in my face, the joyous momentum of energy building with the speed of the bike. Sometimes we just need to release our brakes, quit holding ourselves back, let ourselves go forward in some area until, like a speeding bike, we gather energy, enthusiasm, momentum, strength and joyous wonder. We're not here to hold ourselves back— let's release our selves and feel the vast energy of the universe coursing through our bloodstream this moment. 

We all know what a workaholic is: someone who overworks or who uses work as a kind of drug. A joy-aholic is someone who approaches his work with joy and enthusiasm. Kahlil Gibran says, "Work is love made visible." We don't have to dread going to work and spend our time daydreaming about our next vacation. The work we are given to do in this life can be a great blessing to us— giving us the opportunity to discover and express our creative gifts to our world. Enzo Ferrari, the great Italian car builder, was once prevailed upon by his family to take a month's vacation. At the end of the first week, Ferrari was discovered back in his garage working feverishly on a new car engine. "This," he said, with joy, "is my vacation." 

There are two kinds of freedom: freedom from what we don't want and freedom to do what we do want. It can be helpful to clarify this distinction because, even though we use the same word 'freedom', what we mean is very different. When we say, "I want to be free," many times we mean we want to be released from a trying and oppressive situation. We say, "If only I could get free from this person or situation, then things would be okay for me." Much of our life, at times, seems to be spent untangling ourselves from oppressive circumstances. Yet there is also freedom to in our life: freedom to be creative, freedom to achieve our goals, freedom to discover and fulfill an ultimate purpose in this life. Thankfully, the great artists, musicians and poets always kept their focus on freedom to— the expression of their creative genius. What a tragedy for humanity if a Bach or Mozart or Picasso had spent his days worrying about the bills or relationships. Perhaps we too need to keep our attention more on what we are creating in this life! Let's be freedom ‘to-ers' too. 

We all go through times of friction and hurt feelings with our friends, loved ones and associates. We carry the pain of a misunderstanding so far; we nurse our grudge, we rehearse our grievance so long, then, one day, we say to ourselves, I really don't want this hurt feeling to damage my relationship with so-and-so any longer, and we drop it. This is forgiveness in action. We may not actually go up to the person and say, "I forgive you for hurting me." We just show him or her by our actions and our attitude that all is well between us. The barrier of pain and hurt, doubt and distrust, has been dissolved, and we are at peace with each other again. We are all masters of forgiveness; this is not something that we don't know how to do. To live in relationship on this earth, we have had to forgive a thousand thousand times all the slights, the misunderstandings, the miscommunications— we all know how and when and why and whom to forgive. So let's remember to ask— when things aren't working for us— who do we need to forgive now? Use the WD-40 of forgiveness to get unstuck now. 

In one of his books, Robert Schuller cites the value of list making. He says that making a list each day keeps us on track and helps us to stay focused on our goals so we don't become distracted or forget what we need to do. Schuller offers the following story to illustrate this point. A couple decided that they wanted some ice cream. The husband agreed to go to the store. "Write it down," the wife said, "or you'll forget it." "No, I know what to get," said the husband. "Don't forget," the wife said, "vanilla ice cream." As the husband walks out the door, she yells, "And get some chocolate syrup to go over the vanilla ice cream." "OK, OK," he says. As he gets into the car the wife opens the window and yells, "And get some nuts to go with the ice cream." "OK, OK," he says as he drives away. But when he gets to the store, he can't remember what he had come for. After desperately wandering down the aisles, he makes a purchase and drives back home. In horror, the wife opens the package and finds a carton of eggs. "What is this?" she screams, "I knew you'd forget! You forgot the bacon." 

A bullet train is a super-speed express that whizzes to its destination at hundreds of miles per hour. Nirvana is a Buddhist word for ultimate freedom, liberation and joy in this life. Sometimes, instead of a bullet train to bliss and freedom, we find ourselves on a very slow moving suburban train that stops every few miles. I once found myself on such a train in India; it took several hours to go about a hundred miles on this train. If our goal is inner realization, fulfillment and peace, yet our mode of spiritual travel is very slow and filled with delays and distractions, we may need to choose a fast track means to our destination. Decide to move forward now, regardless of cost. The pace of the journey may leave us gasping and breathless, but the sheer joy of the momentum will propel us to our journey's end. 

Three men were once fishing in the middle of a lake. Suddenly, the oldest of the three jumped up and said, "I forgot my tackle," whereupon he got out of the boat, promptly walked across the top of the water to the shore, found his tackle and returned again, walking on top of the water. After while, one of the other fisherman jumped up and said, "I forgot my bait," and he also left the boat and went across the lake to the shore and back, walking on top of the water. After a bit the third man, a young and inexperienced fisherman, jumped up and said, "I forgot my lunch." Since the other two had walked across the lake on top of the water, this young man boldly stepped out of the boat and promptly sank. One of the older fishermen said to the other, "Do you think we should have told him about the rocks?" When you don't know, ask. 

Einstein and his lab assistant had just completed a project. They needed a paper clip to hold the project papers together. They hunted throughout the lab and were only able to find an old paper clip that was bent out of shape. As Einstein tried to fix the old paper clip, his lab assistant suddenly discovered a whole box of brand new, unused clips. But when he handed a new paper clip to Einstein, instead of using it to bind the papers, Einstein began to use the new clip to fix the old one. "Why bother fixing the old clip, when we have new ones?" the lab assistant asked. Einstein replied, "When my mind is focused on a problem, I can't quit until it is solved." Perhaps we too need to stay focused on our problem until we come to a solution, rather than opting for an easy way out. 

A man once had a dream in which a radiant, light-filled being was beckoning to him. It was interesting that this being was sitting on the front seat of bicycle-built-for-two. The radiant being apparently wanted the man to join him on the bicycle. The man felt embarrassed; he didn't want to be seen riding on such a contraption even with a great spiritual being riding with him. But finally, after some hesitation, the man got on the bicycle. And the two started pedalling. The bicycle began to go faster and faster; soon it was moving at an incredible speed through time and space. The man on the back of the bicycle became so filled with the wonder and joy of it all that he suddenly stopped pedaling. Just as suddenly, the spiritual being in the front also stopped pedaling. The man was momentarily puzzled, and then he realized that he had to do his share, that he also had to pedal for the joyous journey to continue. In our life, our spiritual momentum continues as long as we do our part; when we stop, it stops. 

My cat is a great leaper. But one time when he tried to leap from the kitchen counter, past the sink onto a ledge by the kitchen window, he missed and landed in a sink full of cold water right up to the tops of his four paws. There was a great shock of incredulousness in his eyes: how could he possibly have missed his mark? Yet, the very next day, I watched as he gathered himself for the great leap beyond the sink— and this time, he made it— and he's never missed again. So with us— when we make our great leaps in life, sometimes we miss, land in the puddle and are shocked— how could we have missed the mark? But we need to get up, dry off, gather ourselves together— like the cat— and try again. If he won't give up, why should we? 

An ant once said to a centipede, "How do you know which leg to move first?" The centipede thought about this for awhile. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. "How do I know which leg to move first?" The centipede became so obsessed with knowing how he knew that soon he became immobilized- he couldn't move at all. He was stuck in the thought world. We, too, can become stuck and frozen when we spend too much time trying to figure everything out, trying to know how we know what we know. Reflection and analysis are good in their proper spheres of human unfoldment, but when we push these faculties and demand to know how everything works or fits together, we may become frustrated and blocked because life is infinitely more subtle and complex than our deepest thought. The intellect is part of the whole of the vast field of consciousness we call life. Since the part can never totally know the whole, we can relax. 

A man once went into a coffee shop. When the waitress came for his order, he said, "I'd like a cup of coffee and a kind word." The waitress returned with the coffee. "And how about the kind word?" the man asked. "Don't drink the coffee," the waitress s replied. Sometimes we find that the greatest kindness is useful and accurate information or advice. We don't always need for somebody to compliment us, but we always need to know the best course of action for us to take in any given situation. When we are unsure about what direction to take in life, it is important to ask for help. Find the right person who understands your problem. Whatever our problem in life, there is almost always someone around who can point us in the direction of a solution. Don't ask merely for words of compliment when what you need is a solution to a dilemma.