Yields

Daily Meditation 911–8/29/2024

Not every activity or behavior in life will “yield” a terribly obvious “reward” or outcome.

Say you’ve got a job where once a year, you must go sit at a booth for a job fair — unpaid! The 5 people who staff said booth are picked on a rotation, so not every year, but once every few you’re expected to go.

You grumble and complain about the work and lack of pay, but why?

While the government probably wouldn’t allow employers to do this (unless it’s a contracting based job, such as I am), it’s very easy to get caught up in the drag-your-feet-and-mope attitude about having to go sit at a hot, sticky booth with the table shrouded in the fitted-and-logo-covered-sheet, handing out pamphlets and telling everyone (enthusiastically!) all about your team.

Even describing it sounds cringe.

Not everything is going to yield an obvious “payday.”

And that’s okay.

Not everything in life should be beneficial to us all the time. Some things are “beneficial” in the fact they are draining and unrewarding and boring and tedious.

These build character. That, in and of itself, is worth a great deal.

And here’s the secret:

When you get “stuck” in some “un-yielding” activity, don’t bitch and complain — seek the lesson, find some beauty.

If you’re locked in a prison for 10 years for something you didn’t do, will you…