Resting in Inconvenience and the Uncomfortable

My friend Terri and I have been reading about equanimity together. We have read from both Donald Rothberg's book and Shaila Catherine's book. Both authors give the assignment to rest in the moments of inconvenience and discomfort. At the dentist's office this week, I had a lot of opportunity to practice equanimity in this way.


Next week I will be in DC for one of the State Teacher of the Year meetings. While the entire concept of the trip is exciting, it is also very nerve-wracking. Meetings with the president, with Senator Reid, and with Mrs. Biden all sound exciting while also completely terrifying. The trip also means a week away from my kids and my classroom - the two loves of my life.



Some of the trip will be engaging and fun without the terrifying: a black-tie dinner, a tour of the monuments, training on my new SMART board, and participating in two round-table discussions, one hosted by the Department of Education and the other by NASA with the Smithsonian. Plus, my mom is going with me, and I am looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with her.

Now that my departure date is less than a week away, my first instinct is to just forget the trip, stay home, play with my kids, and teach. But I can't do that. The trip is paid for, and these opportunities will not present themselves in my lifetime again. And I want to go. In a hand-wringing, stomach-fluttering sort of way.

So it occurred to me that this trip is going to provide lots of fodder for my equanimity practice. There will be lots of moments of inconvenience (waiting for the president, talking to aides in place of the senator, and lots of public transportation) and moments of discomfort (trying to compose myself around people I normally see only on CNN, feeling out of place amongst people I don't know, and trying to find my way around).

Instead of looking at this trip with dread, I have decided to see it as an opportunity to grow both in my profession and my practice. My goal is to rest in those moments of inconvenience and discomfort; to remember that suffering is either clinging, aversion, or delusion; and to simply be at ease with not being at ease. In the meantime, I hope to learn a lot and to make an impression, tiny as it may be, on those who make education policy.

I hope to post pictures next week. Cheers!

Signs of Spring

*sigh*

I think there are many who would agree with me that spring is overdue, so I thought I would share a few signs of spring today to balance out the furthered sombre mood after the sad news again today. This school year has brought a great amount of grief to those around me, and as spring appears, I can't help but be reminded of the ever-changing vicissitudes of life. Let us all remember that life is fragile and to appreciate the present moment.