This Can Drive You Nuts, Or You Can Learn To Love It

0:00The world is full of tours. But you don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. You choose it to find the places in between. The detours, where each adventure pulls you toward the next. And wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota Trucks. my family owns a 2023 toyota 4runner and honestly it's my favorite vehicle that i've ever owned around town it's smooth and reliable but where it really shines is on our trips into the back country we've taken it on backpacking adventures to colorado new mexico loaded up with gear and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain that's what toyota trucks are built for off-road confidence rugged durability and the freedom to explore toyota has a long history with the outdoor community and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer.

1:00From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks, they're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. That's toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.

1:29Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2 ,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

1:56you clean and then it gets dirty you do the dishes and then five minutes later the sink is full again you've made it through your inbox in the morning and by the time late afternoon strikes you're already digging yourself out again literally before you've even finished putting the dog's toys away they've splayed them out across the floor just as you put the finishing touches on that big project, another is dropped on your lap. You finally organize your kids' clothes, and now they've grown out of all of them. This can drive you nuts, or you can learn to love it. In Tibet, Buddhist monks make beautiful mandalas out of sand.

2:32They spend hours, even days, crafting these complex geometric designs, only to wipe them clean and start over as soon as they're finished. And isn't that a way that we might see all the work we do? Might that be a way to go through life? It's not about cleaning the house or finishing this or that. It's about the mandala, an unending ephemeral process that we begin again and again and again. In fact, that's what Marcus Aurelius said again and again and again. The universe is nothing but change. Everything is constantly in flux. Nothing lasts. Some things are rushing into existence, others out of it, he reminded himself.

3:10Some of what now exists is already gone. Change and flux constantly remake the world just as the incessant progression of time remakes eternity. The dishes, the desk, the dog's toys, your inbox, the weight you lose and gain and lose, these things are never done or clean or organized or set. No, entropy is always at work. You are at work. Your growth is at work. So we should not feel exasperated or frustrated by it. We should love the flow of it. It's not work we're doing, it's art. to be finished would mean the end of this, the end of our lives. No, we like that it's a little bit like Groundhog's Day because it means a chance to wake up and live again, to do it beautifully, to do it well.

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