I get out my tennis shoes, shake the dirt out from and proceed to put them on my feet. Oh no, the shoelaces are entangled. I take the offending shoe and try to undo the knot quickly. it is impossible, the hastier I get; the worse the knot becomes. So, I have to patiently undo the knotted bit by bit. It is frustrating and infuriating, how did the laces get so entangled anyway? It is who am to blame, I did not loosen it properly the last time I took off the shoe.
Finally manage to undo the knot put the shoes on, grab my tennis racket and head towards the door. I am running late for my tennis game and I have to hurry.
Crash! A flash of lightning streaks across the sky followed by a deafening crack of thunder. In less than the time for me to reach my bicycle, rain pours down in torrents. I stop in my tracks. How frustrating it is. Now the rain has to come to prevent me from going to the tennis courts. So much for tennis today, it is a washout. What a disappointment it turns out to be, what frustrations.
What has just described can happen to anyone. am sure things like this has already happened to everyone many times and the possibility of these things happening again in the future is a certainty.
I learn from my frustrating experiences that things often do not happen according to how I want it to. So, in learning this I also learn to reduce or avoid more frustrations whenever can.
The problem lies in our daily wanting, hoping, expecting and looking forward to things. This is the normal way human beings live and it is the cause of frustrations. The thing is when we want, hope, expect or look forward to something, we are asking to be disappointed. Things happen and they are not subject to what we want. hope, expect or look forward to So when something happens that is not what we want, hope, expect or look forward to, we are frustrated and possibly angry too. The rain does not care whether we play tennis or not and the shoelaces are not concerned whether they are entangled or not. it is we who insist that things should be what they are not and we suffer for it.
I have discovered that if we give up our wants, hopes, expectations and looking forward to things as much as possible, then we will not be frustrated. How can I be frustrated when do not expect anything? Anything can happen and it does not bother me. But if I do not want the thing that is happening and wants something else, then I feel frustrated and upset. Is this not being foolish?
So, give up as much as possible my wants, hopes and expectations. In that way, I give up frustrations too.