Growing in Virtue

This morning I read a chapter on Patience out of the book "Pay Attention for Goodness Sake", which was given to me by my lovely neighbor Christine.

In the book, a safety driving instructor recalled being stuck north of San Francisco in traffic which was making him late for a meeting. He became more and more anxious. Then he realized he was looking at Mt. Tamalpais out his window, a sight people paid money to come and see. He relaxed and enjoyed the view. The meeting would happen when it would happen.

I was struck by how much living in an RV tries the patience. It seems I am always waiting. Waiting for Carl to get off the computer. Waiting for Carl to get out of the kitchen. Waiting for this, waiting for that. I feel impatient. I suspect Carl feels it too, because he is always saying to me, "I'm just waiting for you to finish .....so that I can ....." It's a one butt in motion at a time environment.

But there I am, in a scenic place. I should be looking at the view while I wait, no?

Well, let's talk about the view. Sometimes it is a trailer park.

But the point the book's author made was that no matter where we are, there is something to observe and appreciate while being patient, even on a noisy polluted freeway. In fact, some of my most humorous observations on life on the road happen in the RV Parks along the way while I am waiting for something to happen.

Take Tuesday night in Torrey Utah. You know the little early Winnebago? Slightly larger than a van? Burnt orange paint job, squared off stepped slope profile? There was one in the campground with about 6 hippie people jammed into it. No shaved faces in the group. They were out grilling when we arrived and looking like world peace. Later, I heard a scimitar being played in the little van. This I heard while I was on my way to the bathroom, which had two toilets, side by side, no partition. I was thinking that I don't know a single person that I would feel comfortable sitting side by side while using the toilet. Maybe because I don't have a child? I thought of more lessons in patience waiting for a child to be toilet trained.

The next morning the burnt orange Winnebago left about the same time we did, but not under its own power. There was a guy at the wheel, but he was just steering. A pickup was pulling them by a tow rope. All six people were in the van, just tooling down the road behind the tow, probably singing peace songs. I think they had patience down to an art.

Palo Duro makes me think about the moment

Before leaving today on the scenic route through Caprock, Turkey, and Palo Duro Canyon on our way to Dumas, I read a meditation. It's worth sharing.....

A tiger gave chase to a monk who had been walking peacefully near a cliff and the monk, running as fast as he could, had no choice but to be eaten or leap off the edge of the cliff. He was able as he leaped to grab hold of a vine trailing over the cliff and dangle in midair with the tiger snarling at him overhead and under him a very long fall into a rushing river full of boulders. Then he noticed a mouse gnawing at the vine. He also noticed growing out of a cleft in a rock in front of him a strawberry plant with one ripe berry. He ate it. He said, "This is a very good strawberry."

We are all dangling in mid process between what already happened, which is just a memory, and what might happen, which is just an idea. Now is the only time anything happens. How often do I get caught up in rehearsing for the future which I cannot predict, or ruminating about the past, which I cannot change, all the while not awake to present experience?

It's your life, don't miss it!