I remember many years
ago, someone cooked a sweet dish that I really didn’t like. In fact, it was
horrible for my taste - and for a friend’s too. As he used to work in a food
company, he immediately knew what to do: lots of chocolate over it! At last, we
could eat it.
Many aspects of our lives seem to require lots of chocolate just to be livable.
Because the tendency
is this: when we face something we don’t like, someone who doesn’t agree with
us, or situations that are clearly not working as they “should”, we
instinctively think that should change. The other person. The
circumstances. Reality itself.
And yet, very often,
that wish is unrealistic.
The reality is rather
uncomfortable: we truly have control over just one thing in the whole universe
- ourselves. And even that comes with effort, strength and a good dose of
humility.
From an Eastern
perspective, something quite radical is suggested: instead of fighting life, we
endeavor to embrace it as it is. Not as resignation, but as clarity that is born
from resilience. Seeing things clearly, without denial and an unnecessary
drama.
If possible, of
course, change the ingredients, adding a bit more of “chocolate” in whatever
you are living. If needed, prepare for the future, taking some chocolate with
you, just in case.
And always, cultivate
flexibility - internally and externally - so that agreements, adjustments and
new perspectives can emerge.
Sometimes there is no
chocolate to pour on top. Sometimes the dish stays bitter. But the invitation from
life is not to like everything, but to stop rejecting it so fiercely. To
notice what is happening inside us. To soften. To learn. To grow.
Maybe liking the
unlikeable is not about changing the taste of life, but about changing the way
we meet it.
