Calming the Mind's Wind

 The mind is like water.  When it is turbulent, it is difficult to see.  When it is calm, everything becomes clearer. 

The Buddha

I rode a mental wave today.. a big one from trough to crest and then to trough.  I actually rode a few waves... because the world beneath "me"  seemed to become quite turbulent. In a five hour time span, I was made aware, one by one,  how each of the five adult children in my life( including my stepson)  were getting seemingly swept away by their reactions to Life.  They each called me in to their experiences in one way or another.    I am not a strong swimmer and do not do well in choppy water but I will certainly dive in if I feel I can help save someone from drowning. So I dove in...and there I was for a good portion of my morning struggling to  stay afloat.

My mind, of course, was the wind that made the water ripple. ...into a very challenging current  to swim. There was the struggles of my significant others  made obvious to me...and there was my painful reaction to this information and observation.  I kept telling myself, as each obvious issue came to my attention, "This is not the problem.  It is just Life.  What my mind does with this information, will determine if there is a problem or not." And my windy mind was determined to give me a real swimming challenge.

My heart breaks, as a Mom, to see those I love hurting in the ways I see them hurting, especially when I know that I can do so little. They each must take the reins and direct their own minds and bodies  away from those paths that lead to suffering.  I am basically helpless in doing anything but offering my presence, or possibly pointing a finger to a direction "I believe" would be beneficial and watch and wait for them to do what they need to do.  It is very challenging to do that  and I just want to fix it all for them or curl up and away from that pain...but I know that neither would give them what they truly need...an opportunity to heal and grow their way.  It won't give me what I need either...the learned ability to ride each wave Life presents without going under. 

"And this too", I whispered to myself, "this too is Life." I stood back and I watched the waves of life circumstance and the waves of my mind...trough, crest and fall; trough, crest and fall; trough, crest and fall...over and over and over again. Each circumstance crested and then fell and dissolved as I watched.  Though, I thought I had to "act" on each one of them...and was  feeling so overwhelmed as to how I would do that, I discovered that all I had to do was watch as most of them rose and fell away from needing my intervention. I did act on some...but most, even after as I was getting ready to go to some in order to intervene...just dissolved away on their own.

This is what Life does with all the things that unfold in front of us.... it appears, it crests, it troughs and then whatever wave it came in is gone so the other wave can come in and do the same.  Our minds are like the winds...that react to the observation of these waves with our clinging, craving and aversion.  ...with our grasping or resisting the wave arrival in our mind's eye....they make the water more turbulent than it has to be.

Don't allow your windy mind to make the water choppier...just watch the unfolding of each wave.  Sure, we will be called to act from time to time...but it is so important that we calm the mind first.

All is well in my world.