How Often Do We Hedge Our Bets
I like to watch Texas Hold’em Poker. I’ve never played it, though I have thought about playing poker online. My friend, Holly, is on her way back from France and coincidentally, I received an email about the above linked poker site.
It got me to thinking about how we bet on life, or don’t. It’s the old question of do we walk the talk or do we hedge our bet. Are we “all in” on our life and practice or are we taking it easy, procrastinating or even being lazy.
Perhaps the daily quote on the Diamond Approach Facebook page contributed to me examining the current state of affairs:
It’s possible to examine the extent to which our lives reflect the truth we know. What kinds of foods do we eat? Do we exercise? How do we manage our schedules? Do we find out what we enjoy doing and then set about doing it? Do we allow ourselves the rest and the aloneness that we need to experience the preciousness of reality? Or do we spend day after day being lazy and procrastinating, living routines that makes us miserable? What do we do in terms of our relationships? Do we try to live those relationships according to the truth that we know? Do we apply the experiences we’ve had of ourselves and others and the world or do we reserve our insights for special occasions? Do we create the kind of environment that supports the actualization of the truth? Or do we believe that it’s sufficient to experience ourselves as precious, and then expect the angels to come and clean our room every day?
We’re talking about very practical matters here. We’re talking about applying what we know and what we learn, making the effort, expending the energy to live with sincerity. We do the Work, we practice the teaching, every minute of our lives, not only when we meditate or go to a session or a meeting. For example, if we know that we are more in touch with ourselves when we are relaxed, do we try to pay attention so that we’re as relaxed as possible all the time? Do we organize our time and our life so that we minimize confusion and unnecessary activity?
So we see that there are practical sides to loving the truth for its own sake. To love the truth for its own sake, which has to do with the heart, we have to involve the belly. The Kath, the Hara, our belly center, supports the heart’s love of the truth. The heart cannot survive on its own, cannot survive without the support of our actions, which are centered in the belly. Sincerely loving the truth is ultimately useless if we don’t sincerely live the truth.
Years ago, I used to fly over to Las Vegas from Los Angeles every Friday night and play Blackjack all night. I was interested in card counting at the time. I’m happy to report that I broke even for the six months I did that. I don’t know what the fascination is with poker, but Texas Hold’em is interesting and the game is changing quite dramatically as a whole new generation of online players with a lot of aggression show up at poker events.
It’s an interesting moment when a poker player goes all in, risking everything…. well, at least for that hand, on that day, in that tournament.
Just got me to wondering – am I all in on life and daily practice?
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