Teachers

Many years ago I was having problems with a co-worker. When he arrived into my department took him under my wing and showed him the ropes, we were on the same shift when he started. We worked together for about a year then we went to different shifts and worked apart for a few years.

A few years ago we wound up on the same shift by this time he had developed a reputation as being slow and not too bright. My patience wore thin quickly because it seemed like he hadn’t learned a thing since we changed shifts.

It actually got to the point where we established the 8 o’clock rule. We were on day shift and we started work at 6 in the morning. I developed a reputation as well of being extra grumpy in the morning and was quite prone to blowing my cool UNTIL first break. The 8 o’clock rule was for him not to talk to me and everyone else not to grab my “legumes” until after 8 am. After about the 6^th time I almost ripped his head off I talked to one of my Buddhist co-workers. We had been friends for a long time and she’s seen me overcome more than a few issued at work.

She knew of his reputation and saw me blow my cool a few times with him. One day during lunch I told her how bad I felt after losing it. I would apologize to him for ripping his head off and beat myself up over it. Then a few months later I would repeat the same routine.

She told me that he was one of my “teachers”. That, some people are put in our paths or timelines to teach us something. From that point on I looked at him differently. Because he was one of my “teachers” I figured out what it was he was here to teach me. And I took the time to learn and grow from the experience.

The last thing she told me when she left the company a few years ago was “Be kind to your teachers”. A few years later I made a point to walk with him to get his paper work as he was leaving the company. I know we weren’t as cool as we were when he first joined my department but we had made amends and were able to work together and get along.

As I look back, I have had many “teachers”. The lessons I learned from them greatly influenced who I am and how I relate to people. Right now I’m in a few class rooms; in both cases they are advanced lessons of previous subjects. And after these finals, there is nothing else for me to learn. It will be up to me to understand, incorporate and adapt.

And at the same time I will be kind to my teachers.

Trace

Slight Distraction

A few of my Zen Dogs at work pointed some observations about my demeanor as of late that caused me some concern. It was nothing at all alarming they just noticed that I’ve been on edge for the last few weeks about something. First of all, either they are much more perceptive than I give them credit for, or the shift is that noticeable. I told them it was work related. We are all dealing with the upcoming changes and uncertainty in our own ways. I told them the truth but at the same time I was concealing something. It wasn’t work related so I followed my doctrine of keeping other people out of my issues.

I dedicated yesterday, today and tomorrow to figuring out what is going on. Yesterday after a short bike ride, some great planning and watching one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, Predators, I went for a drive to chase the sun, there was still sunlight here at 10pm. During the drive I started putting some pieces together and it hit me. It’s one of those life things people have been telling you for ages but you don’t understand until you can translate it into your own language and examine it with your own lenses.

This morning, Tuesday, I got up, did some more planning and took another ride. The intent was to ride to the river however a mile into the ride I realized I was way over dressed so I turned around to drop a layer or two. On my way back I stopped at a red light, there were no cars coming so I peddled across. When I got about 20 yards from the street, a passenger in a car stuck his head out as he passed me and yelled something about me going through the red light. I retorted with 2 words, the last one was OFF! He yelled something I couldn’t understand as they drove away.

I actually said a silent prayer to the war Gods that they would be waiting for me at the next light or corner. It was something like “please give me this opportunity to test my skill”. I’m the leanest Ive ever been, there is something burning my biscuits, and I SAW PREDATORS LAST NIGHT. In reality soon as he yelled at me I recognized him as one of the Portland worms that have been the bane of my existence for the last few years, another coward at 1000 paces. So within a microsecond my radar chirped non threat.

On the rest of the way home realized how way out of character that was for me. One of the Zen Dogs asked me a long time ago “What would you do if a worm insulted you as you walked by it?” ever since then it’s been my approach to ignore them, there effin worms!

I went home and dropped a few layers and rode to the river and did my 14 mile meditation. The Blog about the enlightenment will have to wait.

Trace