What Good could you accomplish if all your bills were paid and you could help your family, your friends and the world at large in any way you wanted to or creatively think up? What if you had the time to meditate, to contemplate and to do good for yourself and all other beings in the Universe? What would you do? Would feeling good about your life by being able to help others also extend your life far beyond what it otherwise might reach to? I think so.
This is one of the reasons I began to pray for "The Leisure to Practice" once I heard it described by Tibetan Lamas as a desirable state to being in for the ultimate benefit of oneself and all other beings in the past, present and future of the entire universe.
I think becoming a contemplative, a monk, a person who helps others and oneself to enlightenment, to spiritual fulfillment, to a heaven realm in all religions is in the end based upon, "The Leisure to Practice".
When you are not just so freaked out about everything that you can get your head clear enough to make some good thoughts and good decisions to make life better for yourself and those who surround you and for literally all people everywhere, people's lives begin to change for the better.
If, however, you re just struggling each moment for a crust of bread to stay alive and are reduced to being a lot like a wild animal in this, what good can you do from this state? Instead of being an asset to mankind, often you become a thief, a murderer or worse from the animal state you feel you have to do "Whatever it takes to survive!"
However, often one good and right decision can change all this to something better for you and for everyone you know.
Around 1980 I began praying for, "The Leisure to Practice". Did it happen right away? No. It actually was about 20 years later that "The Leisure to Practice"prayer took place and manifested in my life.
I was about 30 when I started to pray for this and about 50 when it manifested as a prayer in the physical.
Pragmatically speaking, I expected to work myself to death in my life. I never expected to be able to ever retire. However, in my 40s my financial luck changed and by 50 I was able to retire after almost dying for 7 months from a heart virus.
What has this done for me? It has allowed me to help countless people in countless ways. It has made me feel needed by life around me so I tended to take better care of my life for my wife and children so I am still alive now at 65. So, so far I have had 15 years at "The Leisure to Practice". It is completely different than I expected it to be.
Maybe it's easier just to call it, "Retirement" which is both a panacea and a curse at the same time to many people.
If you are a workaholic and need many people around you every day then retirement might not be what you want to ever do.
But, if you are a more contemplative, helpful caregiver kind of person like me, it can be the beginning of the most rewarding life imaginable.
Was the transition difficult? Yes. It is. It took me about 5 years to make the adjustment. But, after that I can envision living this kind of life until I am 100 to 150 or more. Will that happen? It depends a lot more on medical advances than anything else at this point.
Am I fulfilled in this life? I would say I'm generally happier than at any time since I was a child. My health isn't as great (mentally, emotionally or physically) as when I was 33 (the statistically physically happiest age for all mankind) but I'm much more at peace and grateful for each new moment of life.
I no longer worry about dying for myself. From my point of view I have lived in states where dying was expected for several years at a time. From ages 12 to 15 (with blunt trauma epilepsy). From Fall 1998 to May 1999 with a heart virus when I was the only one I knew about to survive this condition for a few years.
But, I live every day by the grace of God and I try to help everyone I meet because I know that is why God gave me "The Leisure to Practice".
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