There is something so powerful motivating about being in a large room (conference center at Menla Mountain), surrounded by mountains, by trees, chirping birds (and chipmunks), laborious woodpeckers, beautiful thangkas and the remnants of memories of a New Year’s Eve retreat with Robert Thurman and Sharon Salzberg.
But alas, after four days of trail restoration in the Catskills, I returned to the hustle and bustle of the big apple and right on schedule, the monkey mind that had been napping gently lulled by the chirps and squeaks and squawks, began to wake and mimic the sounds of the city. And so did my annoyance at the people not walking on the right hand side, the push and pull of subway trains, the delays of the MTA, the warrior-like prance of women pushing strollers. So this morning, as I sat for my daily #MettainMay sit, I was reminded of the anecdote that Bob Thurman uses to remind us to live compassionately:
“Imagine you’re on the New York City subway, and these extraterrestrials come and zap the subway car so that all of you in it are going to be together. Forever.” We might not like everyone, but we’re going to be together forever, so we need to get along, we need to take care of one another, and acknowledge that our lives are linked. Isn’t living on earth like being in that subway car? We’re all together forever; our lives are interconnected. Forever.