Sticking Point

It never ceases to amaze me how as humans we let certain people and things get to us, time and again. We chafe under their acidic words, or their neglect or at the way some people make an art out of ignoring us, either out of spite or impotence. The whole process brought to mind a video game my son used to enjoy a few years back, Katamari Damacy where you would roll this this ball that would absorb everything in its path. It made for a very funny visual effect, because you could make everything stick into your ball as it rolled around, houses, pets, cars, other people, it was very entertaining in an absurd sort of way. I thought of Buddhism and its philosophy of detachment and how opposite it is to the idea that we get annoyed and let everything stick to us, and drag us down. I often think of that when I wash my hands, how water cleanses, and lets go, not sticking to us. There is such freedom to realize this, to choose not to let things and people's attitudes towards us stick to us and drag us down. I had never thought of it in these concrete terms, of being this ball of energy that can either choose to let everything upset us and weigh us down , or we can let it all go, and remain free and light , no matter who tries to stick their stuff to our being. Ego of course is a big stumbling block in this process I find time and time again. That is a tough one to negotiate, because you want respect, but to know where to draw the line can be a battle between acceptance and surrender. Not always an easy conclusion. It is of course sad that humans often put competitiveness above kindness, above compassion and community. I suppose it will always be difficult to have a tough skin, and move on and refuse to be an absorbent sponge that gets stepped on and squeezed out, discouraged by people who should know better than hurt a fellow human on this journey of life. The memory of the video game made me smile, and its sticking point seemed very well made for my frame of mind today. A sense of humour helps in many instances, and to be able to smile, without too much resentment, at getting discouraged or hurt by others' insensitivities or downright cruelties, is definitely useful and therapeutic. If sadness hurts, laughter can heal. Not laughter at ourselves or others, but a good laugh at the often incomprehensible conundrum that is life as we know it, in all its unstoppable motions and expressions. When we laugh, maybe that is what happens, the sadness or hurts that was sticking to us, just rolls right off, and the sticking point loses its grip, and leaves us relieved, refreshed. Our ball can roll again, without bumps or hiccups, nice and smooth, just like the ball in Katamari Damacy when it first starts out. As the game moves on, and more stuff gets stuck to the ball, it gets bigger and bigger to a ridiculously cumbersome degree, just like the hurts we let stick to us, as we move through life, until it gets so heavy that we can hardly move, so to speak. To let go of all that baggage feels so good. We should shake our being clear of all the stuff it picks up on a regular basis. It would create more space between us, cause less friction and confusion. So, a lower sticking point, unlike in the case of glue, is a very good thing when it comes to people. Stick that note on your mirror from here on out.