It's been said that, "God writes straight with crooked lines," and the older I get the more I embrace this statement as truth. My path has seemed random and disjointed at some points, but then makes perfect sense at others.
A while ago I was sitting in a seminar focused on introducing people to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation. As the group shuffled into the room a fire truck flew past running full lights and sirens (Signal 10) and filling the entire space with noise. No sooner had the truck passed than a guy from the back row piped up, "I think that siren just messed up my meditation." We all chuckled, along with our presenter.
And then, the unexpected happened.
Our presenter, a man claiming to help us calm our minds and cultivate peace told us that the siren can become part of our meditation. He introduced to the group and reminded me of the Buddhist idea of impermanence. Like the passing siren, which comes in loud often disrupting our focus, life happens without our consent. We can either be annoyed by these events, or embrace them as part of a temporary state.
There is a line from "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" that puts this all into perspective for me.
"All things are ok in the end, if they are not ok, then it is not the end."
There is a line from "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" that puts this all into perspective for me.
"All things are ok in the end, if they are not ok, then it is not the end."
I think this quote coupled with the idea of impermanence are two ideas that can help us navigate the small (and perhaps larger) struggles and frustrations of our day. The lesson of the siren happened on the fly, and yet it's impact was significant. Instances like this are great reminders that great things can be learned throughout the course of our everyday lives -- if we have the patience to pause and awareness to see.
