I’ve recently returned from a week long visit with one of my most powerful spiritual teachers: Los Angeles. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and my parents still live there, as does my brother. So, I often make the journey back to visit them; the funny part is that when I return I often realize how much the visit was about my getting new insights, understandings, and an excellent time for practice. For what better way to practice then when our buttons are getting pushed, right?
I always have problems going back to L.A. The desert environment, the pollution, the traffic, the tinted car windows so you can’t see fellow drivers, the underlying vibration of fear that prevents strangers from even acknowledging each other if you pass each other walking in the park, the lack of trees (translation: lack of oxygen output in a city that has a high C02 input) …. all of these things add up to be an exhausting energetic experience. It strips me of all my defenses. It batters every level of my being — physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual. During a S.O.S. phone call to a fellow spiritual traveller years ago, he pointed out to me that L.A. was obviously a great teacher for me. “Yeah, yeah, right …” was about all I could muster then … who wanted to hear that when I was drowning in the desert? But as the years have passed, and I continue to return year after year, I am starting to see the power that this “teacher” has in my life.
And it makes me understand how so many different teachers appear in our lives that we may not take full notice of, and therefore deny ourselves the chance to learn some great lessons. Every word, thought and deed can be a teaching; and any activity we engage in, can be a teacher. IF we are present enough, mindful enough, of our experience in the midst of it to notice what’s happening to/for us as it occurs. When we are, and we take some time to step back from being embroiled in the situation, we can see the energies at work and can further our understanding of why we behave the way we do. AND, if we understand that “why”, we can make a conscious choice in how we act/react. We can choose an action/reaction that will either contribute to the chaos, or to the peace within ourselves or others.
Linda