210410 What I learned in my studies this morning

Short cat stretches long

Purring mind, mindful study. 

Wise cat sleeps til noon. 

Today's Meditation:

Zen Flesh Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki 

Let me not judge a situation on what I think I know, but on what I find to be the truth. Let me be gracious when I am in error. 

A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy 

Tolstoy has more faith in fate than I do. 

From The Daily Stoic: 

 

Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. — Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2

It seems trite to me — a used up phrase, maybe because I've seen it so many times in my studies — but it isn't.  It's a crucial, compact summary of a powerful way to find the better path through my life. 

What happens happens. That's as plainly as I can say it. It's not a difficult idea. Then why do I forget it's import so damn often?

Why do I so often react to things before I've considered them?  Before I've put aside my immediate emotions and looked to the facts at hand, minus distraction?