A Reflection on Healing

So last night I ended up consuming a little more than I thought... I was meeting a girlfriend who I had not seen in a while for dinner at Atlantic Grill. I did end up getting Salmon and vegetables, but we decided to share dessert (chocolate fondue, which was delicious by the way). Also, by the time I sat down I was STARVING (it was a late weeknight dinner for me, 8:30), so I gobbled down 1 1/2 pieces of bread with butter. I probably ate 500-600 more calories than I planned, but today is a new day. I also had a great 30 minute run where I sprinted at speed 9 for the past quarter mile, and then did a 15-minute Nike Training Club ab workout.

My meditation class was amazing. We went into deep meditation for about a half hour, and for the remainder of the class, the teacher gave us a lesson on how to heal ourselves and others. Most of the focus is on giving love to people and realizing that we are all interdependent on one another. A good way to look at it is as if we have had an endless amount of lives before this one, and that any person we meet/see/hear of could have been our mother in a previous life. It is for this reason that we should treat everyone with love and respect. There is one part that I had some trouble grasping, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me-- that even if someone were to insult us or say something horrible to us, we should still treat them with love and kindness as if they are above us. I think this relates to the good old saying: "Kill 'em with kindness." I worried that in order to follow this, I must always be nice to everyone, even if they doing something that pisses me off (specifically the people on the subway come to mind), but the teacher also spoke about plain old IGNORING. If there is something in our presence that is unpleasant, why should we let it effect us? Why not just ignore it?! Makes perfect sense.

I have such great thoughts running through my whole bloodstream from this class. The final thing I want to reflect on from it is a quote our teacher said in the beginning-

“Where would I find enough leather
To cover the entire surface of the earth?
But with leather soles beneath my feet,
It’s as if the whole world has been covered.”

-Śāntideva

Part of the reason we suffer is because we try so desperately to get rid of everything that might hurt us or ruin our happiness. But is actually our own minds that cause our happiness, not all of these external forces. We can't cover the whole world in leather, but we can cover our minds when we need to, and give love that we take in.

I hope everyone has a positive day and takes advantage of the wonderful power we have over our own minds! -Riana