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Human incarnation can be ecstatic and glorious, but it can also be, as we all know, difficult, laborious, and sometimes agonizing. Bodily illness and privations can oppress us, and often, we must work with mechanical resistance through the endless mundane tasks that are never really completed because others are always piling up. Scarcity of resources, disease, wars, and the long skull shadows of history surround us. If you stop and allow your gaze to be arrested by such realities, you can become paralyzed with dread.

Like many, I over-commit myself, and therefore, I assume that, with the naive overconfidence of the disincarnate, I chose such a challenging incarnation. This assumption may not be provable, but it is empowering and minimizes self-pity and victim/poverty consciousness. Taking responsibility for my incarnation, I set to work — time to bail out the leaky boat and do the best I can with the resources at hand from awakening till bedtime.

Get into a rhythm with the work. It is far better to be working in hell than to be unemployed and languishing in hell. Of course, if you can find a better place to live and work, by all means, relocate. But wherever you are, there are times when you just have to suck it up and work your way through adverse conditions. Feel the solidarity of every living thing on this plane of existence that deals with Winter, famine, drought, illness, oppression, and obstruction. The Bible, Eccl 3:19, says:

"For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath and spirit, so that a man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!"

So don't feel that you are the only one being picked on by fate, acknowledge the hardships, but get to work and see what you can do between now and bedtime.