NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

Most mornings, I sit at my altar, a window, with legs crossed and eyes closed. I try to empty my mind – to let an emptiness of thoughts be my state of being for twenty minutes. Every morning I fail at the emptiness endeavor, but I try every time. My hope is that one day I will succeed. I often wonder if I will know when that happens because to recognize the moment and acknowledge it, is a thought, right?

So, what does happen in those twenty minutes plus? Over the last 3 to 4 months, I have been formulating an answer. Physically at some point, the comfortable crossed leg position becomes uncomfortable. The discomfort intrudes upon the endeavor and becomes my central focus. I have learned to acknowledge its presence – it is real – and to return to the quest. I have learned to breathe through the discomfort. I have never timed it but at some point, the discomfort dissipates, or I become accustomed to it. This happens some but not all the time. Other times, I gently stretch out the painful leg and guide myself back to my empty mind quest. Spiritually, I have recognized that discomfort keeps me from drifting to sleep. Discomfort nudges me toward awareness of my purpose, and I focus with a renewed intensity. I never get up and leave the practice.

Before I close my eyes, I take a few precious moments to stop and observe what I see outside the window – the neighbor’s light in her dining room, the breeze or stillness of the atmosphere, the colors of the sky, clouds or clear. When I open my eyes, the scene is never the same. Sometimes the fog clears. Sometimes clouds have covered the emerging sun. Things have changed.

I could write a lot more about these twenty minutes but mull on these two thoughts. Comfort, the ways I am too settled, can lull one to sleep. Discomfort is a powerful motivator for restoring focus. Nothing remains the same.

The challenges – discomfort – of life awakens us from the stupor of comfort. We are most often unable to walk away from life’s challenge. Therefore, shifting our posture or attitude ever so slightly and or living through it becomes imperative. The darkness of the challenge holds us until it doesn’t. The answer comes and the eyes are opened. Things have changed. At times, the challenge remains but the attitude changes. Other times, a solution has emerged. Either way things have changed.

Psalm 62:5

PONDER THIS THOUGHT--- Discomfort prompts action.