Sprouting Roots

The potatoes that i harvested 6 months ago are beginning to sprout roots. I'm keeping them in a small refrigerator in the basement where it's dark and cool. Still, the potatoes can "feel" the approach of spring, when conditions for growing will be right for them.

So it is with our bad habits. Even if we can't entirely uproot overeating, impulse buying, or a short temper, we can often prune them sufficiently to noticeably improve our lives. Still, the roots of those bad habits--greed, aversion, and delusion--are lurking, just waiting for the right conditions to grow into our lives again.

This is why the practice of mindfulness is SO important to bring into our daily life. We do our best to chill greed, aversion, and delusion. Yet when they do show up, we greet them like old friends. "Oh, there you are, Stinginess." "I see you, Irritation." "Hello, my old friend Confusion."

Like making lemons into lemonade, i'll be having a potato fest here during the coming month.