Unit 8 Be right with the world

Visualization is difficult for me. I find it soothing to take a mental walk through the woods, and it does distract me from my “normal” life and acts as a stress relief. But the e Subtle Mind exercise allows my mind to go into neutral zones where anything is possible and I can be objective about the visions that do dance by. I still practice loving-kindness and find that it has changed my attitude about the people I deal with. I am much more sensitive to their emotional states and feel genuine empathy towards them. I want to help.

Meditation is for me the ultimate. This is where I can focus intention on a specific and get clear awareness and answers.

Mindful practices have helped me separate what is important from what is tangential. For example I have discovered that it is far more important to listen to a friend in need than to stick to a schedule. The scheduled work will be there later, the friend may not. The loving-kindness exercise has helped me become more accepting of what I previously perceived as blatantly “unacceptable”.  The subtle mind exercise reminds me that I am a part of the whole, an important part but so is everybody and everything else.

Several weeks ago I mentioned my husband’s angry reaction at a store clerk for a perceived injustice, not getting a claim ticket for an item left for repair. Several days later the clerk called saying the item could not be repaired and that we should pick it up. When we got the store, an hour drive from our home, the item was not to be found. An hour of looking brought a red faced clerk to admit that he had given my husband’s item to another client by accident. Dumbfounded and reluctant to react in his normal tantrumic manner my husband turned to me and I said “it is what it is, everything happens for a reason, have them call us when they get the item back”. He took my advice. Several additional days later the clerk called and said he had retrieved the item and that it could be picked up. As we were leaving the store, item in hand, a man approached my husband saying “wow, I have been looking for one of those, is it for sale?” My husband answered that it was deemed not repairable by the repair tech. The man said “no matter, I have a guy … I’ll give you $175.00 for it”. The exchange was made. A smiling husband sat next to me in the car and said “when did I get so lucky?” I answered “when you are right with the world, the world is right with you”.