28 Jun Lessons from a Tornado
Content in the post contributed by “Awakening” a frequent commentator on the blog. I added the flowers. We all need beauty when life is hard.
None of us are immune from disasters and difficulties.
There seem to be times in life when the difficulties are on the “humungous” side. The natural disasters that have been occurring in the US and abroad are certainly in that arena.
Awakening, who often contributes comments to this blog wrote recently with such inspiration that I wanted to include it as a separate post. [I’m certainly open to hearing from any of you that want to contribute!]
Here’s what Awakening wrote about a recent experience that was told to her about someone who was in one of the tornadoes that wrecked havoc in the US this spring/summer:
“….. he was holding onto a pole for dear life ….. as the 160 mph winds from the tornado passed through downtown doing a lot of damage to the community center.
He went on to say that it felt as though the winds from the tornado cleansed him of all the hatred he had toward others; that in the wake of the tornado he felt nothing but a deep sense of love and honor for everyone, including those he formerly despised.”
Since Awakening lives in an area effected by tornadoes she wrote the following:
(Awakening): When it became apparent that the apartment complex where I live had been effected by the tornado, I prayed that my place not be too damaged and that if it was, I accept whatever condition I found it in. I was relieved to
find only my living room wet from water that had leaked from the fifth floor apartment where the roof came off, down to my apartment.
As I surveyed the rooms I said out loud to myself, “Few! Few! Few!” and counted my blessings.
I then went back to the living room and looked more closely at the damage, including my beautiful couches. They were wet and had an awful odor, and the walls were streaked and the carpets soaked in areas.
While part of me started feeling really disheartened, another part immediately remembered a teaching on
equanimity called “Broken Glass Practice” by the Thai Buddhist monk Ajahn Chah.
Here’s what he says:
“Can you prevent something that’s breakable, from breaking? It will break sooner or later. If you don’t break it, someone else will….Penetrating the truth of these things, [we see] that this glass is already broken ….Whenever you see this glass, you should reflect that it’s already broken. Whenever it’s time is up, it will break. Use the glass, look after it, until the day it slips out of your hand and shatters. No problem. Why not? Because you saw it’s brokenness before it broke!”
So I said to myself that “The walls were already dirty and in need of paint. The couches were already stained…the carpets already worn.”
This helped with acceptance, along with a phrase I learned from Ram Dass that I often repeat as a mantra in situations where what is, isn’t how I want it to be. He says, “Ahhh…and this, too.” Opening to what is rather than contracting.
Not that I’m not overwhelmed with all the work ahead, but even there I have help when I turn to Buddhist principles and practices. When overwhelmed I focus on ‘one thing in the moment’ and repeat “Just this. Just this” and proceed to do one task mindfully. Then on to the next one. mindfully.
Another practice that helps stop the all the scattered thoughts and bring me into the present moment is to name what I’m doing ie, “Woman organizing and cleaning apartment.”
When lonely I have found the following phrase helpful. It’s from Ann Packer’s piece Dive From Clausen’s
Pier. She writes,
“Lonely is a funny thing. It’s almost like another person. After a while it will keep you company if you let it.”