Being Peace

Seminar Reflection Part One

Lacey Meek

1/31/12

   To live in the present moment is to be aware of the situation you are currently in, to be aware of the past and how it affected you, and be aware of the future without letting it control the way you perceive what is in front of you.  Only in the present am I alive, and often I spend my time in the present looking forward to the future or looking back at what I could do better.  It is very hard to remember to live in the moment.  In the text he says: “Aware that life is available only in the present moment and that it is possible to live happily here and now.”  I believe he makes a very good point when he says this.  We may plan ahead to make ourselves happy, but only in the present moment can we truly be happy and experience happiness.  Furthermore, I believe that this goes for all extreme emotions.  It is only in the present that we experience them and it is only that harsh pull of emotion that tugs us into the present.

   I believe that like most people I spend most of my time planning for the future.  Often I will find myself worrying or obsessing about things that will happen to me and try to think up ways to sidestep them in my free time.  I make up plans for the future so that I can act on them and become happier for one reason or another, but I am pulled to the present if those plans don’t work out and I’m frustrated.  Similarly, I tend to live in the present of something is happening, though the extent of my living in the present is dependent on how interesting the subject is to me.  Even right now as I write this seminar reflection, my mind keeps straying to what I will do for the second part of the reflection, and how I will talk to Lori about making up for seminar during our break.  This is a rather unconscious action that takes place when I’m in relative peace as I am in this moment.  However, my knee twinges every once in a while and in that burst of pain I am definitely not thinking about the future.  I am thinking about my knee, and how it hurts right at that moment.  When it stops hurting then I will resume thinking towards the future and how I can prevent my knee from hurting again then.  I believe that this is the mindset of most people, to either live in the past or live in the future and I am unfortunately no different on this account.

The Thirteenth Whisper

Lacey Meek

   I was sickly as a child, with watery eyes and a pale complexion, and I had no penchant for sports.  I was picked on a lot by the other boys, and even the teachers had no words to say in my defense.  They chalked it up to laziness.   I can't even begin to count how many times they told me that if I just tried I would get better.  Even father believed it, and told me the same often before he left.  I tried, I tried.  On good days, I was shunned.  On not so good days, I came home in tears.

   Those were the days that mother would scoop me into her arms and hold me close.  “Those boys are still too young to understand,” she would whisper to me.  “Someday, they may learn, but today is not that day.”  I would nod silently.

   Together we would recite twelve of the fourteen mindfulness trainings:

   “Belief is important but pain is wrong.  I will never hurt another person in the name of my beliefs, no matter what.

   “I will never be narrow-minded, because every day holds a new opportunity to learn something new, and I must accept the new knowledge with an open mind.

   “I will never try in any way to force others to do things they don’t want to do.

   “I will never look away when I see suffering, but try to find a peaceful resolution instead.

   “I will always try to be content with what I have rather than focus my life on earning fame or glory because although they may be nice, they aren’t important.

   “When I am angry I will not look to hurt others but take a look at the source of my anger and find a peaceful solution to end the anger.

   “We experience life here and now.  I will always try to live in the present when I can.

   “Words can create joy or pain.  I will do my best to speak truthfully and constructively.

   “I will never lie in order to make others feel better.  I will always try to tell the truth, choosing my words in a careful manner.”

   Here we skipped the tenth mindfulness training because although my mother followed the trainings, she wish to force Buddhism on me.  That was the third mindfulness training.

   “I will always try to do work that is beneficial to others, and where I cannot, I will attempt to find a balance between what is peaceful and what I have to do.

   “I will work hard to encourage nonviolence and compassion in my daily life.

   “I will always try to keep peace and promote the wellbeing of people, animals, plants, and minerals.”

   Mother felt that I was too young to concern myself with the fourteenth mindfulness training.  Instead, she would kiss my cheek.  “What do we do when people are mean to us?”  She would ask, rocking me back and forth.

   “We show them love.”

   This was over fifteen years ago.  Eventually, I grew stronger to fit the lanky frame that had made me a rather stork-like child.  My ivory pallor eventually became less ghostly, and I began to excel in school.  People stopped picking on me long before that though, and I believe that it was because of my mother, and how she encouraged peace over violence.  She showed me that love can, with persistence, change the world.  The lesson of her thirteenth whisper is one I will never forget.