Zen Cat Art

What stops you?

Some days you’ve just had enough.  Yesterday was like that for me.  By mid-afternoon nothing was going right.  I usually have enough endorphins to carry me a few extra to pass around but yesterday my endorphin account was bankrupt.  My warm fuzzies had cooled down to at best a tepid blah. 

I figured I better get out of the house before I infected everyone, including the cats with a bad case of woe is me.  My place to gain perspective is the nature preserve about three miles from our house. 

The walk I take is a two mile loop which includes a boardwalk that goes out over the water.  It’s my favorite part of the walk and it always raises my spirits.  Even on raw damp days like yesterday it makes me feel better. 

Mist and fog hung in the grey air.  When I was about half way out over the pond – I was stopped by the water which had risen over the boardwalk.  I went as far as I could go and stood there.  It was me and a lone seagull for quite a while when I heard footsteps approaching. 

A woman was heading my way and when she was in range we exchanged pleasantries about the beauty of the winter landscape, the changes in the weather and possibilities of an early spring.   Finally, I lamented the impassibility of the flooded boardwalk. 

She smiled at me and with a shrug of her shoulder said, “I try not to let the little things stop me.”  And with that she passed me by and continued on her journey stepping through the water.  

“I should have brought my boots,” I called after her—offering my excuse for not following her.   

“Yeah,” she called back, “my socks are wet.”  But she never broke stride and I watched her as she rounded the bend and headed on her way disappearing into the mist.

I was standing out there because I had let some little things stop me.  The problems that felt like boulders that I was pushing up hill—were starting to look more like pebbles.  I couldn’t imagine why I thought they were insurmountable.

If you really wanted to do something, it might involve getting your feet wet, but was that really all that bad? Hell no, I thought and headed home to get my feet wet in my own projects that needed just a bit more determination to get them going. 

I’m glad the woman had enough determination to keep going on her walk—watching her gave me a boost for my own journey.   

Practicing Happiness

I was listening to a lecture by Pema Chödrön from her CD titled Don’t Bite the Hook where she talks about the Tibetan Buddhist teachings which ask us to “always maintain a joyful mind.”  Right.   Chödrön suggests that we practice happiness.

I so often forget that what my mind thinks is up to me.  If I focus on the annoying things about the day – and some days it’s hard not to – I can whip those little annoyances into righteous wrath until I feel strangled by them.  It’s amazing how badly I can feel treated when I dwell on it.  Even the sunshine seems to be coming in the wrong window.

Good grief, what was I thinking?  If I stop a moment, stop the incessant chatter of my mind, stand in the present moment another side starts to surface.  There are so many really good things in my life.  So many things little things that make me happy.  If I can focus on them instead of brushing them aside I can “maintain a joyful mind.”

Yesterday, I walked in the nature preserve near our house at lunch time.  It was the closest thing to spring we can get in January.  The air was fresh and the sun was warm and everywhere there were little sights to delight the eye: a paw print in the snow, a red berry against dried leaves, a bird’s nest almost hidden in the thicket with its top hat of snow.  What could be better than that?  It’s easy to practice happiness there.

This batch of Clementine’s are exceptionally sweet, if I am practicing happiness when  I eat one--the fresh citrus scent curls around my nose the minute I start to peel it.  I can appreciate the perfect little sections, as I bite down I can feel the sweet juice dancing on my tongue.  It’s perfect but if I am not present in the moment I will miss it. 

Hot tea, dark chocolate, a friend’s voice on the phone, cats napping in sunny windows, “brown paper packages tied up with string…” we can all make our own list.  These little joys surround us all the time.  I just need to practice being aware of them. 

 

So my resolution for 2008 – to practice happiness.  What could be better?!