Dear friends,
I had a most interesting experience last week….
I went to Castro Street with my wife for a walk and to have a coffee at Red Rock. Outside the shop I saw a cute, tiny dog. A woman had the adult dog in a small baby carriage. I moved to pet it, but it didn’t act quite right, so she said, “Oh, he’s blind. He had a progressive eye disease.” I leaned toward it and made a kissing sound to attract his attention, and she said, “Oh, he doesn’t hear very well.”
Struck at these twin maladies I said, "He sure seems happy.” She replied that he was very happy. Her husband said he’s kind of like a Roomba: he walks around and gently bumps into something, and then just changes direction, sniffing happily all the while.
Wow. What a great attitude! (The dog, not the husband.) This got me thinking. Why can’t we adapt to reality so effortlessly? I was reminded of a song my teacher wrote, a line of which is, “Grief’s one thing and complainin’ another/ Why multiply grief with despair?!”
Our mind gets stuck in what-was, what-ought-to-be, that’s-not-fair, and why-me. Life happens, and unfortunate things happen. Our response to those things is what determines the quality of our life. We can’t control what happens around us (notice that this past year or two?), but we can work towards becoming better and better at accepting what cannot be changed. Acceptance is not feeling defeated or stressed. It is the highest kind of glorious victory.
I never thought I’d learn a lesson outside Red Rock from a blind pooch. Spirit can speak to us at any time in any way it chooses, if we are always listening and attentive.