Joko continues in the long run, people who practice are calmer. But that's not the point of practice. The point is to begin to contact yourself as you are angry, resistant, depressed, phony, whatever you are, a lot of us want to practice just until we hit the hard stuff. And then we go around it. You're not practicing in a way that will fully benefit your life, until you pause once in a while at that point of difficulty. And just stay with it. Is there anybody here who wants to do that? I don't think so. I don't. But whatever stage of life you're in, as you learn to go right into and through the hard spots, that's what makes your life satisfying. So I'm trying to have a look at the fact that a sitting life is immensely rich, it's a struggle, but taken as a whole, people who stay with it have lives that begin to make sense for them. That can include their trials, their difficulties and their illnesses. But their lives have a certain base that is valuable to them, and valuable to others. Sitting life is immensely rich. So Zen is our anchor, in a world that is in constant flux. And we ourselves are flux. And we shouldn't take our practice for granted, things can change in a flash for ourselves and for our loved ones. Several years ago, my father had a stroke. Although he and my mother didn't know it. My partner Tom and I had just come out of a seven days machine, and we went to their home to visit them right after machine. We took one look at him, and knew immediately that he needed medical attention right away, we could see the droop on the side of his face. And it turned our world upside down. My mother had to rely on me to navigate the healthcare system. My father was in and out of the hospital for a period of about a month. And we wouldn't even weren't even sure that he'd be able to go home. In time, he spent a period in an inpatient facility doing cognitive and physical therapy. My mother was helpless during that entire ordeal. And so it consumed my time and energy for many, many months. Today, at 89 years old, my father continues to struggle with mobility issues and dementia. But he was able to return home and he's still at home.