Obstacles Make Us Smile

We try to rejoice whenever there is an obstacle, and we try to regard that as something that makes us smile. Each particular setback creates a further smile. We keep on going in that way, and we never give up or give in to any obstacles….For instance, I myself had a lot of hard times getting out of my country and being sick. And all sorts of things still happen to me personally. Although everybody is trying to be extremely helpful to me; nonetheless obstacles happen to me all the time. But I don’t regard those obstacles as a sign of anything at all; I keep on going, myself. I was terribly sick yesterday, and it was not very pleasant–however, it made me smile. So I’m here, smiling, right now.

Student: You have to go through the turbulence?

Chögyam Trungpa: Yes, yes. You always have ups and downs. It is like riding on a roller coaster: the more you go down and the more you go up, the more you smile each time. You smile, rather than just holding your breath and thinking that you should enjoy yourself because you paid for it, or thinking that since it was your choice, You’re supposed to enjoy it.