From our walk this morning

1. Truth: Sugar is keeping me awake this afternoon. I don’t drink coffee, I can’t stop working just now to go take a nap, and I already tried taking a short walk to snap me out of my slump, so besides walking across the hall and asking my colleague to slap me every ten minutes, sugar is my only option left. I’m eating a donut right now, Old Fashioned Sour Creme Glazed Plain from Lamar’s Donuts, and a banana, all washed down with a big glass of water. We had a celebration this morning in the main office for “National Student Employee Appreciation Day,” so there were leftover treats and I’m taking advantage, even though I know it will only buy me another hour or two before I’m dragging again.

2. Truth: We’ve got more snow on the way. Depending on which forecast you look at, it’s either going to be a couple of inches or almost a foot. It’s going to be sloppy, crappy, dreary weather for the next three days. It’s totally normal for this time of year, but I sure was hoping to work in my garden this weekend, maybe even go hiking, and my dogs (well, Ringo) are much happier when they can go out in the backyard (Sam’s just as happy on the couch).

3. Truth: Environmental factors, internal and external, are real. As many affirmations as you throw at yourself, sometimes it’s cold and wet and muddy and sometimes you are super tired and can’t think straight and that’s just the way it is. As positive as you might try to be, there are real conditions that you have to work with, work around, work through. I can’t make myself not be tired just by wishing it (or by drinking a green smoothie), and I can’t change the weather with my good attitude. Which reminds me of one of my favorite Pema Chödrön quotes, “Affirmations are like screaming that you’re okay in order to overcome this whisper that you’re not … maybe you’re not okay. Well, no big deal. None of us is okay and all of us are fine.”

One wish: That no matter what our conditions are, we relax and remember that none of it is that big of a deal, “none of us is okay and all of us are fine.”

From our walk this morning, one of my favorite spots.

1. Truth: You know you love someone when their happiness makes you happy. In Buddhism, there’s something known as mudita, which translates to sympathetic or empathetic joy. It is one of the four immeasurables, qualities that if cultivated are said to lead to contentment. Mudita is the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being, and is the opposite of envy. I felt it today when my friend was telling me about a moment between her boyfriend and her father, experienced it when I felt so happy for her, for them, that I started to tear up.

2. Truth: To ease suffering is one of the quickest ways to feel better. It can be the suffering of another or my own that is eased, and it doesn’t have to be the big bad kind of suffering — no matter what it always does the trick to help. I was noticing it this morning with the dogs, all the times I helped — checking feet for stickers, removing a piece of stick that was caught under a harness, helping get a chunk of cookie that got stuck in one’s teeth, cleaning out eye buggers, filling the water bowl, opening a door, retrieving a toy from under the couch. Such tiny things, so mundane and constant, but such a huge part of my own well-being to try, comfort, assist, aid, serve.

3. Truth: Sometimes I’m the one who needs the most help. I’ve been working so hard lately, and my body has been in so much pain, that when I get home, all I want to do is crawl onto the couch and stay there watching TV or cuddling a dog or letting Eric tell me stories or staring at the wall until it gets dark and I can go to bed. So you know what? That’s exactly what I’ve been doing, because that’s exactly what I need.

One wish: May we all care and be cared for, comfort and be comforted, have a soft place to land and delight in each other’s well-being.