Word of the Moment (Arduous)

 Arduous | [ahr-joo-uh s or, esp. British, ahr-dyoo-] | adjective

1. requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult:  an arduous undertaking.
2. requiring or using much energy and vigor; strenuous:  making an arduous effort.
3. hard to climb; steep:  an arduous path up the hill.
4. hard to endure; full of hardships; severe:  an arduous winter.

"Wish not the past.  Hope not the future.  Live your present moment." | Habit of Living (Part 2 of 3)

Then, there are those who fantasize about the future and hope that tomorrow will be a better day; today, simply, isn’t good enough.  Forgetting the irrefutable truth that the best way to make a better future is to focus on today.  If one thinks tomorrow will be a better day and do nothing but wait, when that future arrives... it ceases to be tomorrow; it is today.

“Though we travel the world to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is cliché to say, "It isn't about where we are going.  It is the journey there."  People that are too goal-oriented fall into this category…  They live for their objectives and forget to embrace the experiences along the way.  Once they reach their targets (their future), an emptiness resides that they don’t quite understand the source… If one doesn't live all the efforts that led to that crowning achievement and be able to look back and recall the journey, the finish line is lacking.  Being too consumed with a goal is but a shackle of the mind.

"If you don't invest very much, then defeat doesn't hurt very much and winning is not very exciting." ~ Dick Vermeil

I was once asked, “If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?”  After a moment of contemplation, “Everything that I would like to have, I have to work hard and earn them.  If not, I won’t appreciate them if I just got it granted… Having a person that loves me and I love them.  Helping humanity.  Happiness… I have to earn all that.  I’m a person that don’t enjoy getting things freely.  At least… not the important things.”

無功不受祿 (Chinese proverb)
Vô công bất thụ lọc. (Vietnamese)
No effort merits no windfall. (English)

In Vietnamese culture, if someone offers you a lavish gift without reason, one is taught to reply, "Vô công bất thụ lọc." and say that they can't accept the gift and return it.  When you labor arduously for something, you appreciate it...  You remember it.  Something given and something earned are profoundly different.

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A story… (Adapted from “The Alchemist")

An elderly shopkeeper, in search of felicity with little success, sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world.  The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a grand castle, high atop a mountain; the sage man’s abode.
         Rather than finding a saintly man, though, upon entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity; tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world.  The boy patiently waited on his tattered sandal as the wise man conversed with everyone.  After some time passed, it was his turn to be given the man’s attention.
         The sage man listened attentively to the boy’s explanation of why he had come but told him that he didn’t have time just then to explain the secret of happiness.  He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours.
         "Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something,” said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil.  “As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill.”
        The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixated on the spoon.  After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.
         "Well,” asked the wise man, “Did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in the dining hall?  Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create?  Did you notice the beautiful parchments in the library?”
        The boy was embarrassed and confessed that he had observed nothing.  His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.
         "Then go back and observe the marvels of this world,” said the wise man.  “You cannot trust a man if you have yet to see his house.”
        Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceiling and the walls.  He saw the garden, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected.  Upon returning to the sage man, he related in detail everything he had seen with all the enthusiasm in the world.
         "But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?” asked the wise man.
         The boy’s eyes slowly lowered to the empty spoon.
         "Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you.” said the wisest of the wise. “The secret to happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on your spoon.”

Never forget to appreciate the journey; they make the goal worth something.  At times, the experience is the goal... we just don't know it yet.