Big Blue,

For me, “setbacks” are met as teachers, such as unexpected challenges that kind of spring up that need attention, are helping grow attention, concentration. “Alright, what’s here?” Or, if they’re internal, such as emotions that kind of spring forward, old habits, etc, they’re seen as old ruts that naturally erode over time. First, we notice a habit we wish to remove, then we notice when we do them, and then we figure out what to do instead with practice. Like our heart moving us to erode a habit that harms us… the oomf of it causes us to pay attention (first in reflection, memories of oops, then in realtime, such as stepping aside, doing something different), and we get “set back” less time over time.

Much like in meditation, thoughts first “pull us away” from the meditation object, but as we watch it happen, keep coming back to the object, we’re pulled away for less time. “Setbacks” in this way, are really more like the way we balance our karmic account, step aside from our ruts, grow concentration, and so on. The the ruts can be pretty seductive, but if we keep at it, they go. It helps to laugh. Like, how many times we startle ourselves with a jack-in-the-box, and then start cranking the handle some more… 🙂

With warmth,
Matt