Feeling burned out?

In the beginning of the day, ever notice how burned out and stressed you feel? Of course, this is part of the daily grind, with work and such, but I think there’s more to it. In the morning, I am calm and at peace, but by the end of the day I tend to feel very flustered until I get home and play with the baby. My guess is that, in addition to working ourselves to death, I think we’re also very inundated with information and can’t think clearly through all the noise and input of life.

The Buddha often praised the life of renunciation in the Pali Canon because one could be less distracted and have a clear and more focused mind. It’s hard for us in the Western World to live a renunciant life (unlike Buddhist cultures, people here aren’t inclined to feed/clothe monks as much), but the meaning is still true I think.

I found this text from the Tao Te Ching, a Taoist, not Buddhist, text this morning:

The Five Colors make a man’s eyes blind;
Horseracing and hunting make a man’s mind go mad;
Goods that are hard to obtain make a man’s progress falter;
The Five Flavors make a man’s palate dull;
The Five Tones make a man’s ears deaf;

For these reasons, in ruling, the sage attends to the stomach, not to the eye.

Therefore, he rejects the one and adopts the other.

– Chapter 12

Here the Five Colors, Flavors and such are just metaphors for all the sounds, tastes and sights we deal with. The reason why the Buddha promoted meditation as a practice was to help shut out this noise, but this is only a temporary exercise. I think it’s also good to try and simplify one’s life and stop piling so much responsibility, trinkets and such on ourselves. I love my wife and daughter, so I am happy to work hard for them, but there’s also something to be said about not working late so I can spend time with them as well. It keeps the family together, and keeps one from coming home burned out and taking it out on the family.

When at home, when was the last time you sat around and did nothing? Even for 15 minutes. We take vacations to get away from life, only to make ourselves more tired and burned out. With the time off, just being at home with loved ones, or even just going to the nearby cafe or park, is wonderful.

I notice I tend to listen to music a lot at work, pretty loudly too, but I am trying to wean off that. The last thing I should be doing is piling on more noise on top of everything else. Besides, why carry around an iPod, when I have to spend effort to keep it from breaking or stolen. Why add more burden?

…anyways, food for thought.

Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu

P.S. If you are a working parent, or are married, I am NOT NOT NOT advocating that you go run off and join a monastery. I once met someone whose husband actually did this, and I feel that that husband was extremely selfish for doing so. My wife and daughter are my refuge, not some remote monastery. I always enjoy coming home to see them, and I like to sleep in sometimes to hang out in the morning too.