The Leisure to Practice

I first heard this term sometime in the late 1970s or around 1980. I decided then (I was around 30 then) that this was a good idea for me to work towards. To be able to have time to contemplate, to pray, to write, to travel, to meet people and to see what good I could do spontaneously in the world.

I suppose it is not for everyone. I have met people who only know how to be workaholics and couldn't imagine being as creative or imaginative as this all the time. Even for me it can be a bit much sometimes. And even this blog is a part of "The Leisure to Practice" the way I heard it described by Tibetan Lamas so long ago.

It is a way to make other people's lives better. It is a way to think about how life can be better and talk about it or write about it or even to paint or whatever useful creative thing you can try to do for yourself or mankind.

In some ways I always expected to work until I died like most people do. Retirement for many turns out to be a bridge too far. So, I prayed for the Leisure to practice and in 1999 it finally happened. In the fall of 1998, I got a heart virus that wasn't diagnosed properly until spring 1999 and when I realized in May 1999 that I wasn't going to die then, I suddenly had the rest of my life to look forward to because I had had to retire in order to stay alive those 7 months somehow. So, since 1999 I have lived for 14 years now, The Leisure to Practice and it has been much different than I expected but also much more amazing than I expected too. So, if praying and helping mankind and traveling a lot and visiting people all over the world suits your demeanor and personality then you should pray for "The Leisure to Practice" too.