Well, here I am. I'm sick today and I figured I wouldn't have time to come up with an idea for an entry today, but something happened and here I am.
Two things came to me today. The first is that illness and injury occur to me in a very different way now. It's hard to explain, but in simplest terms, I just don't seem to notice them. Or perhaps, they are just not significant.
When I hit my face on a bedpost a few weeks ago, it hurt, (a lot) and bled, and left with a cut on my nose and a large bruise from the bridge of my nose out past my cheekbone. I put a band-ad on the cut and went about my business. It's not like I totally forgot about it, I just didn't give it any of my attention. From time to time I feel vague surprise when I touched my face and it hurt, but that was about it. What's really interesting is that only about four people asked about it, despite the fact that I was interacting with a large number of people at rehearsals and at the shop. The bruise disappeared in what seemed like a few days and the scab fell off my nose in about a week.
Ah, the term I was looking for is "suffering." I wasn't suffering, or self-conscious in any way about my injury, or my appearance, and maybe that translated into other people not paying any attention to it either. In the same way, I'm not suffering about this cold. It is, and I make whatever adjustments I need to to get through the day, but give it no more attention than that.
So there you have two practical examples of how many of the vicissitudes of life are simply not. Stuff happens, but suffering is optional
The other interesting thing happened while I was meditating, but I think I'll save that for tomorrow.
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