But anxiety is normal, dammit

Last fall I posted a gripe that my "default setting" was somehow "wanting-to-be-distracted". In the post I link to lots of others where I have whined about the same thing.

And then a few weeks ago, sitting in Sangha, I realized how natural that is.

After all, the Buddha's First Noble Truth is that all life is dukkha, where dukkha can be translated "suffering" or "stress" or "unsatisfactoriness." In fact I'm pretty sure we were reading an essay of dharma teaching at that point, and that the author made the point that this longing to be distracted is part of the fundamental nature of reality. So instead of whining about it, I should just be glad that I have perceived the fundamental nature of reality.

Just bloody wonderful.