July 15, 2020

Notes by Pradyun Badrinath

What is endurance?

Endurance is when you can cheerfuly accept the situation you are in.

How to work on endurance?

Put your self in an uncomfortable situation like taking a cold shower for one week!

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Notes by Srinidhi Iyer

Recap of last week

Feeling fearful? Then we shall work on the virtue called Courage, when we willingly do things that make us feel uncomfortable.

We learned about how it is easy to be courageous when we can change our attitude and mindset.
“I am going to overcome this situation for my own growth because we are no longer worried about the results”.

Lesson from this week

We will learn about what to do when we feel like complaining or we are feeling uncomfortable (eg: it is hot, I am hungry etc)… we complain about something outside like too hot to walk or If your feet hurt.. Ex.I don’t like peas in my food.

Once Shankarji went to the West Indies islands near South America. He went to Trinidad for 2 years of studying in an ashram about happiness, the teacher had a retreat center in the rainforest. They were excited and packed bags thinking it would be nice and peaceful and do lots of meditation. They went in a car, on dirt trails. When the car could not go any further, hiked 2 miles up to the top of the mountain. It was night time and they had to use flashlights. Finally they made it to the retreat center and it was nothing more than a wooden hut! no toilet, no shower. They were complaining and were unhappy/ uncomfortable. The teacher said “how can you ever be happy if we need so many things to be happy?”

Which virtue do we use to work on it?
The virtue is called ENDURANCE, That is the virtue to work on.
Endurance is like a shock absorber, absorbing the shocks when you drive or bike on the bumpy road.

We can cheerfully face uncomfortable situations. Eg when hot or hungry, be cheerful and accept the situation. Be thankful for what you have and not focus on what you do not have.

Vivek ji said, “Get ready to feel comfortable with discomfort!”

You can either change the outside
Or
You can change yourselves — Why is this the better option?
Focus on the things that is under your control.

Greek Thinker Epictetus
Freedom is the only goal worth living for
Disregard things that are not in our control
Real happiness is always independent of outside conditions
Practice to be happy within ourselves
Stop trying to be anyone other than your own best self

Practice for the week — only take cold showers