Day Shift — Finding Peace in Life’s Challenges

"Life is a challenge. But once we accept that, life really has nothing else to throw at us."

The Road Less Traveled (by M. Scott Peck) is a book that was written in 1978, which is the same year I moved to Los Angeles. I was…in despair. I was lost. I was alone.

I didn't come here alone but I very quickly became alone and my life fell apart yet one more time, and someone noticing my despair recommended this book to me that had just been published. I went to The Bodhi Tree Bookstore which is where we bought our spiritual books back then (there was no “online”).

I got the book and I remember going home to my little funky apartment on Highland Avenue. It was a sub-basement that looked out onto a dirt lot. And I sat down in my salvaged-from-the-street chair and had a glass of brandy, because I was very stylish, and lit a cigarette, and opened the book, and read the first line which said, “Life is difficult.” I literally threw the book across the room.

It hit the wall and landed on the floor with a broken back and I didn't care. I was so angry. I didn't want to hear that life is difficult. I wanted to hear there's a way of doing this that doesn't hurt so much; there's a way of doing this that that feels like I belong here, that feels like there's a reason for me being here. I wanted to know that I was okay.

I just wanted to matter, and I didn't. And now this book is telling me, yep, you're right! You don't matter, nothing matters—and it's challenging.

Now, eventually I read the rest of the book. And I found that M. Scott Peck, the author, was actually right. Life is difficult. It's a real challenge to be here. It's a real challenge to find our way on a daily basis, constantly having to choose love over fear, having to choose identification as the inner truth of myself, as opposed to the ego, outer truth of myself.

I described it in here, in this book, as “Having to choose life over death and love over separation and judgment, again and again.”

And as it turns out, that's the reason we're here - is to be able to make those choices, to have to make those choices, to learn the lessons that we learn in making those choices.

The teacher David Hawkins said, “If we didn't have this world exactly as it is… to learn the lessons that are available here, we would have to go build one to have the same experience.”

The truth is life is difficult. Life is a challenge. But once we accept that, life really has nothing else to throw at us. And then we can begin to get present to the good parts.

And I like the way that I wrote this, so I’m just going to read it about today:

Today I will see each problem as an opportunity to find compassion for my fellows and myself. I will ask myself to love where it feels impossible to love, to accept where acceptance may feel like losing, to celebrate this life of possibility when it feels like there is no good option left for me to try.

Amid hopelessness and despair, I will say something like, “Well, it will be interesting to see how this turns out.” Help me God to stay present, and aware, and willing.

And thank you for listening. Have a beautiful day.

---

Jeff Kober is an accomplished actor, photographer and vedic meditation teacher. He has had regular roles in notable series like The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, and NCIS: Los Angeles, and has appeared in numerous films including Sully and Beauty Mark. Kober is also a writer and artist, and has previously penned screenplays and co-authored the book Art That Pays.