I started volunteering again today. I volunteer at a centre for recovering addicts. I've been volunteering there for nearly 4 years, and when i'm unemployed (often) I tend to volunteer there most days for most of the day. I am bored of the old roles. I've done them all to death and I need new challenges, and so this time I am returning with a view to give something, to contribute, to add to the service. Today I handed in a proposal for a 'Learn about Buddhism' class to be held once a week. It will be a mixture of discussion and some meditation. I'm using the book 'Modern Buddhism' by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso as the basis for the teachings and discussion. He seems to know his eggs.
I don't have much money at the moment, but I thought I had enough in my account to get the bus home. So after volunteering I walked into town, went to a shop and bought 2 kilos of potatoes and some pitta breads for dinner and future dinners, then went to get some cash out from a hole in the wall only to be told I had insufficient funds. Curious. So, I went into the bank and tried to take some money out, but alas, I really did have insufficient funds.
Being bright I figured that i'd just go back to the shop and buy some more grub and just get cash-bank. There wasn't anything else I wanted so I just picked up 2 more kilos of potatoes for later in the week, went to the pay at the self-service as I had before out of fear of having my card rejected (embarrassing for even us wannabe world-changers), only to find that once I got to the end there was no option for cash-back. Okay then. So, still no money to get to my home 6 miles away, and plus i've acquired 4 kilos of spud weight. What to do.
Like most spiritual folk persistently short of money i've been reading into the law of attraction, the hope being that all my material needs will be met with minimal effort and fuss, just by thinking / being a certain way... a certain way that I have not cracked yet. *Sips peppermint tea*. So, me and my potatoes decide to create my bus fare home. Not difficult, in theory, I just send the thought out 'I have my bus fare home', which i'm pretty sure was the right thought to send out, and proceeded to know that it would be done and walked straight to the bus stop knowing that my fare would appear and i'd be home in no time at all. The fare didn't appear, and, to be honest, I wasn't in the mood to give it much of a chance. I was walking home.
'Come on potatoes', I didn't say, internally or externally, I just started walking. It is quite a long walk. It took me an hour and a half, but, you see, these are the moments I realise how blessed I am, and how much of a beautiful mind I have developed. Not even one split atom of a negative thought arose in my mind. No disappointment at having to walk home, no grumbling, no anger, no frustration... just a cheerful, well humoured mind, totally accepting and happy with the situation. I love that. I love that life gave me those potatoes too, just to give the challenge an edge. I responded beautifully.
It's so encouraging to experience those moments. One of my main practices at the moment is to just enjoy everything. It used to be to accept everything. Now it is to enjoy it all, whatever it may be. It just comes down to my mind. I have cultivated a mind that can make any situation enjoyable. One way or another my mind finds an angle that makes every moment - whatever its taste - enjoyable. I'm still early days with it, and that enjoyment will deepen as I commit more to it, but it's happening, it's there. I get to smile no matter what.
Here's what I have just been listening to.
I hope you are well, you who is reading this.
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