Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great

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Goals actually allow you to shirk responsibility. Bu In A Guide to the Good Life , William B. Irvine argues that this is the reason many people are unhappy: With focused consistency and patient repetition, you’ll master the movements and see how powerful you can become. And you’ll never want to stop. Instead, we must realize that contentment can only be found in being fully present with ordinary daily activities – with chopping wood and carrying water. When you’re able to find fulfillment in these ordinary activities, you can finally be at peace in life. Then one day another solution occurred to me. Perhaps, just perhaps, what she discovered was this. A good human life of chopping wood and carrying water is the ultimate experience.

That’s how you beet discouragement and you keep moving forward with your projects. By substituting self-destructing thoughts with whispers of faith in your abilities. No matter how badly things go or how poorly your day turns out, you’ve always got one thing you did right—you made your bed. Sometimes, when the lesson is more than just how to do something easy, you learn about who you really are, and you become more confident and able in yourself too.He did not expect others to serve him although he was a high master. Instead, he served them. 4. Happiness is not something that happens to you While this one is not a direct meaning of this saying, it is something that I’ve inferred from its words. While #3 was about your inner state changing, this one looks at your outer state. It’s important to recognize that achieving financial independence (or whatever financial goal you wish to attain) won’t bring you lasting happiness in and of itself. It might not even change your daily routine that much – you may still spend a significant amount of time working. The difference is that you’ll have the freedom and space to spend more time on activities that put you in a flow state. John fell into the same trap: he could see that other archers could easily do a few things he struggled with. Famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote that “every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This simple life lesson is hard to learn, but it boils down to knowing and accepting that good things take time. There is no point in rushing or wanting to be at the end already. We all need to take that first step, no matter how small it may be.

It was torture. But my lesson was to develop persistence. Once I finally managed to get onto the horse (who was thankfully a patient older mare), the instructor told me to get off and do it two more times. While writing the worth statement, don’t include your possessions. Just add those things that will be inside you even after someone takes all your belongings away from you. Social media scrolling might seem harmless. However, when you work hard to achieve something and when you don’t see immediate results you’ll surely feel like crap when you open Facebook and see one of your friends riding the new Camaro.I once tweeted out that if you have the freedom to spend time doing these two things each day, you have everything you need in life:

We all know this isn’t easy. Overcoming the unconscious default setting of your mind is a key point in David Foster Wallace’s iconic speech, This is Water: For years, I assumed the old woman must have had the ultimate experience at the top of that mountain. She’d achieved enlightenment, divine union, satori—whatever you want to call it—and was completely liberated from pain and suffering. From that point forward, life was total bliss, so why not chop wood and carry water? We live in society, in communities, where our own survival (and happiness, too) is linked with every other member of society. When you achieve enlightenment, you are still responsible for participating in the well being of your community. Learn how to think about and build new and better habits that will guide you through life in a meaningful way. Is the wood chopping you and the water carrying you? Or, are you chopping the wood and carrying the water? The responsibility is yours.On the surface, the visible, external actions of chopping wood and carrying water are the same before and after enlightenment. So, what’s changed?

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily It’s mainly a book for people who are trying to build something long-lasting. Something that’s beyond one year of completion. The Life Lesson: Focus on doing one thing right each day, and the rest of the day will take care of itself. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. 2. Work Like a Bee Before and after enlightenment, your life may look relatively the same. Before enlightenment, you go about your everyday tasks like brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, and putting the kids to bed. After enlightenment, you still have to do those tasks.I listened to this book because my husband had added it to our Audible account. The title had me thinking I was starting a non-fiction book, and I was excited by the promise of learning "How to Fall in Love With the Process of Becoming Great". I wish it had been delivered in a non-fiction format with only inspiring, true stories. Since enlightenment is a state and not a destination, that means we all still have to go on living even after attaining enlightenment. The goal then is to have your doing rooted in being to create awakened doing: Life lessons help us understand with a deeper insight or meaning that helps us in life and guides us to being who we are supposed to be. Through learning opportunities and real insight moments, you can convert the “chopped wood” into real wisdom or life lessons. 7 Important Chop Wood, Carry Water Life Lessons The now famous speech by admiral William H. McRaven about making your bed is perhaps one of the best life lessons (via metaphor) that our modern age has seen. A mission is much deeper than a goal. Your mission will give you perspective and help you focus on the important things in life. You’ll concentrate on your daily actions and on who you become as a person.