Author: Andrea Grassi

We got what we deserve, let’s admit it.
Every single time we either don’t share our struggle, our problem, or we share a complaint, we complain because we just want to be listened.

And in those dark, deep moments where everything goes wrong we don’t realize that what we really need is help, not listening.

Listening is nice, it lets you feel part of something, but if we are in the shit, why in the world listening would be better than some real help?
Also, how can we expect to get help if all we care about is sharing the complaint not the problem?

The more I go forward the more it’s clear to me that removing ego and our(my) egoistic nature is part of improving.

Accepting our ignorance, our ability to need help, our vulnerability, is part of something we all should strive for.

Today Tianjin suffered of a terrible explosion.

It’s not clear yet the reason, I suppose just lack of security, but the thing is: things like this shouldn’t happen.
The explosion was so huge and devastating, it was terrifying.

The video of it already went viral, but we can’t do a thing about the real problem.
I am really sad for the chinese people and hope they will soon find a way to fix this kind of problems before the grow even more.

I don’t think I am in the position to say this, I’m not over sadness, anger, and whatever negative altered state of the mind.
But there’s one thing I eventually figured out.

Life is a complex thing. It’s a mix of good and bad news, and you can’t avoid the bad ones. In fact they are part of the journey.
Living through the bad news is part of how we define ourself.
The choices we make based on our reactions will change us deeper than we think.

This is life, it’s not an easy game, it’s not a game for everyone, and it’s easy to feel lost, because no one can give you an advice.

Personally I always try to use the worst case scenario to put things in perspective.
For example: compare the bad things you had today with the war, the dying of all your dears, a natural catastrophe.

Your daily bad news will likely seem unimportant, and in fact they are unimportant.
In 10 years from now these fight will be forgotten, this moments of anger won’t be remembered.

I remember that when I was a child I used spend some days into the house of a dear friend.
He was living near the Cinque terre, in italy, a beautiful place.

I remember the smell of lemons his mother planted outside and their wonderful taste when I used them into the morning tea.
But there’s one teaching of those days that stayed with me for a much longer time.

I was wearing a men necklace those days, and one day it was all tangled up.
I was fighting to get that necklace into place when his mother came up to me and helped me untangle it.

While her hands slowly found the trick of the necklace she told me “the secret is to go slow. You have the urgency to do it fast, but in fact to untangle it you have to do it slowly”.

That was probably my first contact with my somewhat loved world of zen.
I am not specifically talking about the whole ideology but the approach.
A slow, kind, approach to the world.

Even though I’m not always following this lifestyle, this is somewhat my main track now, something I love.
And the nice thing about that phrase she said was that I could apply it for every single action of my life.

Every time I find myself learning something really complex I feel like there’s a learning wall that I’m supposed to pass but I can’t just move over it.

It’s hard, it the step toward learning that’s this hard, and it feels really frustrating because it seems like I’ve got no power or skills every single time.

This is the price to pay to move forward.