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Daily Routine

NamelessRiverNamelessRiver Veteran
edited March 2010 in Buddhism Basics
Did Buddhism affect your daily routine? How so? (by this I mean not only meditation and dharma reading, but I would like to also include more broad things, like if the dharma helped you stop smoking, if you started treating the people around you differently, if you sleep better now, this type of thing too.) :)

Comments

  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Yep. Better sleep, better eating, better interpersonal relations. Professional work has increasingly fallen under the rubric of Buddhist practice, and it has gotten smoother and better as a result, too.
  • mrdude1228mrdude1228
    edited March 2010
    Slowly but surely. Being mindful of how I spend my days and considering better alternatives is definitely one of the more practical benefits I've found since I "converted."

    Sleep habits are indeed something I've also noticed, I could never clear my mind at night easily until I started the meditation shindig. And practicing Right Concentration has helped me to not spend countless hours spreading my attention thinly amongst... erm... very engaging internet forums.
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    Ever since I became firm-footed on the path, no day goes by that I don't think about the Dhamma and what the future may hold for me if I pursue Nibbana. Some days I listen to audio lectures, some I brush up on textual teachings via internet sources, some I spend in contemplation of my shortcomings to better address them.

    Almost without exception I practice mindfulness in my daily routine, thinking "how does what I'm doing now relate to my goal to end suffering? Am I viewing this correctly? What can I do better?". I find that many mistake the words of the Buddhist teachings for the meaning, and although such people invoke my sympathy, I try to distance myself from becoming entangled in such wrong views without having direct experience and realization for myself.

    Though I have come far along the path, just as far do I have yet to travel. I find myself thinking about just abandoning this life altogether and living as a recluse, but find it difficult it difficult to do. Perhaps soon I will choose to enter the monastic life to pursue the final goal of full enlightenment.

    In the end, "Buddhist" is not what you are. It is what you do.
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Buddha's teachings have given 'me' keys out of existentialist angst; hell.

    I would like to quote the movie Jacob's Ladder: Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.

    Of course as far as daily routines go: I can function within society now without panic attacks and jolts of fear. Or rather.. with or without them mindfully.. :)
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