In life we have ups and downs. This is the nature of life on earth. The Taoist call it Yin and Yang, Buddha referred to it as Duality. The key is to embrace this nature, not fight against it. Life has a flow, like swimming in a river, go with the flow not against it.

The Cankama Sutta says:

Monks, there are these five benefits of walking up & down.[1] What five?

One is fit for long journeys; one is fit for striving; one has little disease; that which is eaten, drunk, chewed, tasted, goes through proper digestion; the composure attained by walking up & down is long-lasting.

This morning I woke and went for a mile run. To many people this wouldn’t be anything to mention but I haven’t run in over a year and a half. I’ve never been an athlete or athletically fit, I’ve always preferred to take the easy way when it comes to physical exercise but a few years ago something came over me and I had an urge to start running. I can’t say exactly why this happened but I recall a “felling” that I needed to run so I set my dedication to running a little every morning. At first It was extremely difficult and I could hardly run a 1/4 mile before complete exhaustion overcame me. Gradually I was able to increase the distance until I was running 5K runs, I even completed a few 10K runs (something I never dreamed possible).

Eventually the struggles of life caught up, my knees began to ache and give out on me. Life threw some impossible curve balls at me and I stopped running. Fast forward to today (a year and a half later) and I’m feeling the urge to run again. My knees seem to have healed and are not bothering me like they did. Other life challenges are being dealt with and I’m able to commit again.

In life we have ups and down. This is the nature of life on earth. The Taoist call it Yin and Yang, Buddha referred to it as Duality. The key is to embrace this nature and not fight against it. Life has a flow, like swimming in a river, go with the flow not fight against it.