When we jump to conclusions,

we invariably land in the wrong place.

Having taken my seat on the airplane, I noticed the interaction between the two people seated in front of me. Something they said made me smile. A smile that, unbeknownst to me, was noticed by the woman coming down the aisle.

“That’s right, laugh at me!”

The voice was plainly upset. Whoa, I said to myself. Turning immediately to the direction of the outburst, I saw a woman struggling with her carry-on bag and a seriously cumbersome personal item. I can only imagine that she was frustrated with—and embarrassed by—having to wrestle with her belongings in full view of those already seated.

My thoughts had been on the couple in front of me, but my smile was perceived as happening in regards to something very different. And so, a coincidental smile had left a harried fellow passenger steaming. In her awkward position along the narrow aisle, she quickly concluded that I was laughing at her. Which, sadly, only increased her misery.

I resolve not to use enticing speech. Instead, I will . . .

Reminder to self:

Laziness leads us to places

we don’t want to go.

Thanks to our laziness in everyday situations, and to our resultant failure to do what we are supposed to, we frustrate others. In our practice, laziness ends up with us feeling guilty or maybe even defeated. Instead of doing what we should do to transcend samsara, we’re wasting time in wandering thoughts and pointless activities.

Here we are, in one of those unbelievably rare lifetimes where we encounter the Dharma and all the right conditions to be able to practice, and what do we do? We binge-watch a TV series. We text. Incessantly. We tell ourselves we have plenty of time. We’ll chant tonight. Listen to that Dharma talk tomorrow. We do what is easy or pleasurable, not what is wise. We give ourselves excuses. We’re lazy.

And we do ourselves an incredible disservice by failing to take advantage of this rarest of opportunities. Thus, with others and ourselves, in matters small and large, laziness gets us into unimaginable trouble and does us great harm.