GIVE AND TAKE

     Everything in life is a mixed experience. In order to have good times and good feelings, we have to be willing to do the footwork. We cannot enjoy the feeling of being fit unless we are willing to exercise our bodies. We cannot enjoy being in a healthy relationship unless we are willing to communicate honestly, and take responsibility for our part in conflicts. In every job and every experience, there is both joy and effort. Neither one exists without the other.
     Culturally, we seem to have a panacea idea that it's possible and desirable to live a life of leisure without contributing anything meaningful to it. We erroneously think that such a life is actually worth aiming for. But everything has a cost- everything- and nothing is given without something being taken. Life is an exchange. It's give and take. Taking alone is unsustainable and unsatisfying. It is only when we have planted the seeds and weeded and watered the crop that we can truly appreciate the harvest.

I do my part. In the exchange of life, I work hard, and reap the benefit.