Mind is like everything

You summarized your old year in a short sentence while our group sat drinking afternoon tea at the end of the year, welcoming Tet in a gentle, leisurely way, without fussing about eating, drinking, or partying.

Even though we've had a challenging year, your story still gives our team pause.

You are a farmer's child, studied well for many years, passed the university entrance exam and went to the city to make a living. You are the pride of your parents, your family and the whole village whenever they mention you. A person who passes the exam, studies well, and has a job in the city is the pride of the whole locality.

So you are unemployed, exactly losing the job you love, the job you have devoted many years to. Many colleagues who lost their jobs like you, quickly found new jobs. But you are different, doing a job you love is like nurturing and forming a habit, you need time to fill it, to get used to the absence.

But when you tell your family and relatives, your parents are quite worried. You reassure them that it is a reality, a challenge that to overcome, you must first learn to accept.

Thousands, perhaps millions of Vietnamese people have faced unpredictable challenges in 2024. The whole country faced many difficulties and losses, especially when storm No. 3 - Yagi - took away many lives and properties, leaving many families devastated and in pain. Among them, Lang Nu was the place where that terrible pain was piled up. However, the solidarity of the people and the army and people helped Lang Nu revive.

"As long as there is skin, hair will grow, as long as there are buds, trees will sprout." Vietnamese people are always in the mindset of standing up, overcoming pain and always have experience in overcoming difficulties to live on, stronger.

In fact, life, no matter when or where, always has difficulties and unpredictable uncertainties. What matters is how you deal with them. At the end of the year, I heard a teacher share about overcoming obstacles and felt like a new perspective was opened.

According to him, on Tet people often wish each other "Everything goes as you wish", hoping that everything around them will move according to their wishes. When things do not go as they wish, they become dissatisfied and miserable. "I often wish everyone "Everything goes as you wish", meaning that whether everything moves in a favorable or unfavorable direction, up or down, we still keep a calm eye, accept and be satisfied with everything that comes. No forcing or being miserable".

Looking at the joy of welcoming the new year of people all over the country, including Lang Nu, I will tell you about the interesting concept of wishing you a happy new year - meaning like everything, seeing you smile.

Obviously, everyone has times when they have trouble untangling their knots. Even when you see the problem and the solution very clearly, you can still fail if you lack a little motivation and determination.

And motivation can come from within us, when we rest from pain and failure long enough to be healthy and safe, to move forward with full inner strength. Motivation can sometimes come from outside, from the reality of life, from positive inspirations transmitted by someone.

I myself have been unstable at times, but after sadness, the need to live a meaningful life has urged me to stand up. There are times, I also need "help", sometimes from relatives, sometimes from strangers whose wonderful stories have helped me cheer up.

New Year, need to recharge and the beginning of the year is also the perfect time to recharge both body and mind. Both spirit and body need to "eat" good, healthy, non-toxic foods. Therefore, disconnecting from undesirable things, negative people, and avoiding foods that are harmful to health is the way to protect yourself.

Life changes when you change. This saying contains the philosophy of dependent origination and cause and effect, because if you don't sow good seeds, how can you reap good results? Only we are the masters who create our own lives, so we don't need to wait for anyone. When everything outside changes, we also change accordingly, that is the inner strength we need to have in the next 365 days.

The ancients said, looking up we are not as good as anyone else, but looking down there are many people who have it harder. Therefore, do not "zoom" your difficulties into something too big so that it overwhelms you. Losing a job, getting sick, failing, having a broken heart, losing property... are all losses outside of us, due to mistakes, carelessness, and objective factors. However, we only lose everything when we lose ourselves, draining our faith and hope for positive change.