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Once upon a time there was a very enlightened and holy Buddhist monk.

He lived in an isolated cave, on a mountain side, and occupied his time only in prayers and reflections all day and all night.

And one day he returned to his cave only to find that it is full of sassy and ugly demons.

They completely took over his cave,

cooked and ate his food,

slept in his bed,

ripped apart his holy books,

dirtied everything,

and screamed and irritated him in every possible way.

The monk tried is hardest to get read of them: fasting, praying, meditating, convincing, bargaining, arguing, even just grab them in the tail and through them out...

And little by little he succeeded.

All the demons left, except one. The most annoying and disgusting one.

Against him -- nothing helped.

The more the monk was more spiritual, more rational, more firm, more assertive -- the more bothersome and sassy was the demon.

Finally the monk realized that nothing worked.

He turned to the demon and told him:

"OK. I guess there's no other choice. We're gonna just have to learn to live together, you and me."

And the demon left....

It's the nature of all the part that we don't like about us, to stick to us more and more.

It's the nature of all the traits that we don’t like about us, to persist, and raise their head especially where we list want.

It's the nature of all the thoughts that bother us, to glue themselves to you like an old gum to a shoe; they lose their taste nut not their stickiness ability.

Until...

Until the time...

Until the time you make peace with them.

Until the time you accept them: the parts, the traits, the thoughts.

Not mentally.

Emotionally.

You have to truly accept them, from your guts.

To contain.

to make yourself a container, to make room within yourself.

But there are no miracles here, no Mac-Fast.

To make peace takes time, it's a process.

And processes you cannot speed up, you cannot hurry.

They have their own pace. They march to their own beat;

The beat that makes the most beautiful music in the world;

Your song.

[© Smadar Prager, CGP]